A Hidden Power - Love
by Koca002
Summary: Videl is not overly fussed by the new kid at school, Gohan, yet she seems to think he's not telling the whole truth. With this on her mind, she sets out to find the truth about this strange new guy and get's a little more than she bargained for.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: First off, I would just like to say, that this is my first fanfic story ever, so go easy on me with scathing reviews. Also, I just want to point some things out before getting started. This is an AU story, there will be no Great Saiyaman, no Majin Buu or Babidi or Dabura, and no World Martial Arts Tournament as I felt that they did not factor in to this story. Also, the vernacular is meant to be that of American English, however, some British English has probably slipped in there so I do apologise if I flip between spellings (as well as writing styles).

And lastly, I do not own Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT or Dragonball Super and this work is merely a fictional adaptation.

Hope you enjoy :)

* * *

"Gohan…" came a voice from the kitchen.

"Gohan!" That same voice beckoned.

"GOHAN! You get out of bed this minute young man!"

ChiChi was yelling at Gohan as he wasn't out of bed yet and was going to be late for school.

Gohan stirred whilst his mother continued to yell at her eldest son. He lay there on his bed, covers all tangled between his legs, pretty much the same way that his dad and brother slept. The rest of the room was spotless however, no clothes were laying anywhere, all his books were either on the book case or inside the drawer of his desk and the sun, it was just starting to creep through the curtains. You would swear that nobody lived in this room if you were to look at it, save the drowsy Saiyan trying to get up.

"Huh! Oh right, I better get up before mom shouts at me again!".

He quickly got up and headed for the bathroom and took a shower to properly wake up.

Goten was already awake and sitting at the table for breakfast, the young half Saiyan stuffing his face, much like any other Saiyan would, whilst ChiChi was making more for Gohan once he was out of the shower.

Ten minutes later, Gohan had finished his shower and entered the kitchen where his mother had just placed his food on the table.

"Gee mom, the food smells delicious!"

"Well I do try Gohan" replied ChiChi. "Now, hurry up and eat your breakfast or you'll be late for school"

With that said, Gohan promptly ate his breakfast and stepped out the door with Goten chasing after him.

"Hey Gohan! Hurry back from school so that we can train later ok?", the younger Saiyan said with a big smile on his face.

"Sure squirt, I'll be back as soon as a I can, ok?"

"Yay! Haha" was Goten's excited reply.

"NIMBUUUUUUUUUUSSSSS!" shouted Gohan out in to the open world around him.

After a few seconds, he could see it, a nimbus shaped cloud moving at high speed towards him, within seconds, stopped right in front of the half-Saiyan waiting for him to hop on.

"Ok, I'm off now, I'll see you guys later! Exclaimed Gohan, his voice trailing off as nimbus sped away.

"Bye Gohan, you be good in school now!" shouted Chichi.

"Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee" shouted Goten.

* * *

Whilst on his way to school, Gohan had to think carefully about his route towards his new school, after all, it isn't every day that someone was seen flying about, let alone on a cloud no less.

"Hmm...maybe if I stop near the outskirts and find a bus stop or something, yeah, then it'll look like I took the bus to the city instead of having to explain how I get here living so far away".

His train of thought, however, was interrupted when he was almost flung from the speedy cloud. Gohan hadn't been paying attention and neither was nimbus, for that matter, when they happened upon a flock of birds who just happened to be crossing paths with them.

"Stupid birds, I'd better keep my eyes open, can't be late for this first day, otherwise mom's gonna totally kill me. Okay nimbus, let's go!"

And just like that, they were off again.

Gohan arrived on the outskirts of Satan City and dropped down behind some bushes. He peeked up over the bushes and checked around to make sure the coast was clear.

"Ok nimbus, you can take off now, I'll see you later, ok."

The cloud made a gesture and took off to the sky as quickly as it descended.

Gohan then made his way on the path towards school, a rather uneventful trip but then again, was he expecting something to happen? He was just used to changes in his life being rather dramatic that would normally involve him fighting, something that he's not had to do in quite some time.

Soon, he was in front of Orange Star High School. He entered the building and found his way towards the principal's office. He had been told to go there first where he was to meet the principal and then be shown to his class. The introductions were brief and after a short 10 minutes, Gohan found himself just outside of his new class and within it, his teacher and new classmates.

Gohan knocked on the door. After a moment, he was greeted by an older woman, possibly around the same age as Bulma he reckoned, although, he didn't really think Bulma was that old truth be told.

"Oh, hello, you must be our new transfer student, Gohan is it?" said the older woman.

"Yes ma'am" replied Gohan.

She motioned for him to step in to the room as she addressed the class.

"Ok students, listen up, we have a new transfer student today, his name is Gohan. Gohan, would you like to say hello to your new classmates."

"Um…Hi!"

"Gohan here aced the entrance exam, a perfect score nonetheless, maybe you could all learn a thing or two from him. Ok Gohan, please, take a seat anywhere you like."

Gohan scanned the room for a moment, although, it didn't seem like he had much of a choice as there only seemed to be 1 seat where he could actually sit. Just as he had spotted the seat, a young blonde-haired girl shouted across the room:

"Hey, over here, you can sit next to us!"

"Gee, thanks" replied Gohan to this friendly girl as he made his way towards the empty chair.

' _Oh great, here we go again, another new transfer student for Erasa to pine over, I wonder how long this one will last_ ' thought Videl.

' _Just great, now I'm gonna have to sit and listen to this guy's story while Erasa interrogates him and flirts with him all day, not the kinda thing I want to have to listen to first thing in the morning'_ was Sharpner's thought.

"Hi, I'm Erasa, and these two sour-pusses are Sharpner and Videl".

"Hey" said both Sharpner and Videl at the same time, in the same, uninterested tone.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you all" smiled Gohan.

"So, Gohan is it?" asked Erasa.

"What kind of a name is that anyway?" asked Sharpner.

"It's a family name, I was named after my Great-Grandfather Gohan" he replied.

"Oh, that's interesting, tell us more about yourself" said Erasa.

' _There's something about this guy, I don't know what it is but, something just seems off about him, not in a bad way or anything but, something, maybe it's nothing_ ' Videl thought as she kept quiet whilst Erasa berated the young Saiyan with questions.

This went on for a good half hour or so, Gohan was trying to pay attention to the teacher but all Erasa wanted to do was ask more questions. Sharpner, meanwhile, was doing his best to just stay awake, Miss Hamilton's English class was probably the most boring one he was in, although, to be fair, any class would be boring this early in to the day. Videl, however, was switching back and forth, she would be paying attention in class but then she'd overhear Gohan and Erasa's conversation and listen to it for a brief period before returning her attention to Miss Hamilton.

Soon it was lunch time and Gohan was starving, he couldn't wait to get at the lunch Chichi had packed for him. Erasa told him that he should hang out with them for lunch. Sharpner and Videl didn't object, this must be a good sign he thought.

"So Gohan," enquired Erasa, "I forgot to even ask earlier, where did you transfer from? What school did you go to before you came here?"

"Nowhere, I was home schooled" chuckled Gohan.

"Home schooled?" questioned Videl.

"Then how did you manage to get a perfect score on the entrance exam?" she quickly added.

"Well, my mom has been my teacher my whole life, she put a real emphasis on my studies so, I've studied pretty much every day of my life...hehe" he replied.

"I suppose that makes sense, it doesn't seem like you had much fun growing up then huh." said Videl.

"I have put a lot of time in to studying but, I've managed to find time to have fun every now and again" replied Gohan.

"So, what about you guys? You haven't told me much about yourselves?" he pointed out to the group.

"That's a fair point, I guess we have done all the questioning today haven't we" said Erasa.

"Ok, let's start with Videl then, after all, if you don't already know who she is around here, then you'll learn quickly enough" she continued.

"Oh, why is that exactly?" enquired Gohan.

"She's our own celebrity here, she helps out the cops in Satan City when they're unable to help, she's already garnered a reputation that puts fear in to bad guys. It probably helps too that she's the daughter of Mr Satan, you know, the same guy who defeated Cell seven years ago"

Videl shifted a bit uncomfortably, as if she were slightly embarrassed by something that Erasa had just said.

Gohan too, now looked a bit uneasy. Cell. That's a name he thought he wouldn't have been hearing much of, and now, he finds out that one of his new classmates is the daughter of the man who's been claiming that he beat Cell all this time. He was never happy with the idea of Mr Satan claiming to have defeated Cell, however, he knew it was best to let it happen that way so as to keep attention away from his family and friends.

"Are you ok Gohan" Erasa asked cautiously.

"Huh…oh yeah, sorry, I was…just…thinking about something else, that's all" he meekly replied.

This caught the attention of Videl who had only took notice when Gohan struggled to respond. Sharpner on the other hand, had already lost interest and was flexing his muscles and making poses for the girls sitting on the benches just a little further down from where they were.

"Um, did I say something wrong" asked Erasa.

"What?! No, not at all, it's just, thinking back to the Cell games is never easy for me, I lost someone very close to me at that time" replied Gohan..

"OH! I'm so sorry Gohan, if I had known then I wouldn't have brought it up" said Erasa with a bit of panic in her voice.

"It's ok, you couldn't have known, I'll be fine, let's just not mention Cell if we can" said Gohan forcing a sheepish looking smile.

Erasa nodded in reply and smiled back at him.

Videl was now intrigued, Gohan, who had been more or less an open book all day, suddenly didn't feel like talking and only at the mention of Cell did his mood change. She wanted to press for more information but felt that right now probably wouldn't be the best time to do that.

The bell had rung, signalling the end of the school day, everyone made their way out of the doors as quickly as they could. Gohan, Videl, Erasa and Sharpner made their way out of the front doors to the school when Erasa turned to Gohan;

"So Gohan, we're all gonna hang out at the mall for a bit, wanna come along?" she asked.

"Uh, gee thanks but, I'm afraid I'll need to take a rain check on that, it's a long journey for me to get home and I…can't miss my bus", ' _phew',_ he thought, ' _glad I thought about the bus as an excuse otherwise I could have been in real trouble there'._

"Aww that sucks, we could come wait with you, it's no trouble, right guys" said Erasa to her two best friends.

' _What, no way, I'm not spending my afternoon waiting on a bus just to make sure Gohan gets home safe, what am I, his mommy?'_ thought Videl.

Sharpner then decided to pipe up, "No offence but, I'd rather not waste my time waiting with you Gohan, there's lots of pretty ladies down at the mall all just dying to get with me, am I right ladies" he boasted and then flashed a wink towards Videl.

"Urgh, in your dreams pretty boy" snapped Videl.

"Your loss" replied Sharpner.

"Guys, it's ok, really, I've travelled long distance before, this is nothing, go on to the mall and I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow in school, ok?" he said.

"Are you sure?" asked Erasa.

"I'm positive, anyway, I better get going before I miss my bus, see ya tomorrow", and with that, he dashed in the other direction away from his new friends.

"Bye, safe journey home" shouted Erasa.

"Yeah, whatever, bye" said Sharpner, in a low voice that, even if Gohan were still in front of them, he was sure he wouldn't have heard.

Videl stood and stared at Gohan for a moment, not saying anything, pondering what exactly it was that he might not be telling them.

"Is something wrong Videl?", Erasa asked her friend.

"What? Oh nothing, was just thinking about something." she replied.

"Thinking what, about how cute Gohan looks" smirked Erasa.

"Eww, no, why would you suggest something like that Erasa?" was Videls reply.

"That scrawny weakling, yeah right, even your average geek has a better chance with Videl than he does" said Sharpner, "Now c'mon, I can't keep all the ladies waiting".

"You're so full of it Sharpner" replied Videl.

With that, the trio made their way to the mall.

Gohan had made his way back to the bushes where he had first landed that day, unfortunately, the area was now a bit more crowded. There were some elderly folks feeding the birds nearby and a mother out with her children playing in the grassy area just opposite.

"Well, looks like I can't leave from here…" he muttered to himself.

After a moment of thought, he decided to just head out of the city and find a clearing. This added a further 20 minutes to the journey but, he thought it would be safer than risk being seen in the city.

Once he had made it to a clearing, he double checked to make sure the coast was clear and once he was certain, he looked toward the sky and shouted;

"NIMBUS!".

After a few short moments, a cloud came hurtling out of the sky and stopped just in front of the young Saiyan.

"Let's go home nimbus" said Gohan as he hopped on.

Just as quickly as the cloud arrived, it took off again, Gohan was now speedily on his way home. It would still take a while though and with this, gave him time to reflect on his first day of school;

' _Well, that was certainly an interesting first day, Erasa sure is very friendly, more than I can say for the others. Sharpner didn't really seem to care for having me around that much, and Videl, wow, I would never have guessed that she was the daughter of Mr Satan, still, she seemed rather uninterested in asking me any questions but I kept catching her looking over at me when I was talking to Erasa, I'm not sure what to think about her…'_

He pondered for a few moments.

' _Oh well, there's always tomorrow I guess, at least it looks like I can talk to Erasa, that girl is so chatty, but in a good way'._

* * *

Soon, he found himself in to a clearing and at the end of it was his home. He pulled up just in front the small, quaint little home. It was built and paid for by his grandfather, Chichi's father, the Ox-King and was intended for his mom and dad and him, instead, only Gohan, Chichi and Goten lived there. Maybe one day, his father would join them again.

He hopped off nimbus and sent it on its way. He opened the front door and stepped in.

"Mom, I'm home!" yelled Gohan.

"Oh, my baby's home after his first day of school. Tell me, how was it? Did you make new friends? Are any of them cute girls?" she exclaimed rather quickly.

"Geez mom, calm down would ya, it was alright I guess, I'm not sure how a normal day of high school is supposed to be after all. I did meet some new friends and, yes, some of them are girls." replied Gohan, with a bit of reluctance on that last part.

"Cute girls?" pressed his mother.

"Eh…I don't know, maybe?" gawked Gohan.

"WHADYA MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW!" his mother yelled at him.

"Well, I've only just met them and I don't think of them like that" he replied with a bit of panic staring at the frying pan within reach of his mother.

"Honestly, Gohan, how do you expect me to have grandkids if you can't tell if the girls are cute or not?" sighed Chichi.

"What?! Mom, of course you'll have grandkids, you just can't rush me like that, I'm sure I'll find the right girl someday." he replied.

"I suppose you're right Gohan, I just don't want to be a grandmother who can't enjoy time with her grandkids."

"Honestly mom, don't worry, it'll happen sooner or later" offered Gohan.

' _I'd prefer sooner rather than later, Son Gohan'_ Chichi hoped.

Throughout the conversation, Goten had overheard them and came bouncing in to the kitchen where Gohan and Chichi had moved their conversation to.

"GOHAN! You're home, hehe" the younger Saiyan excitedly yelled as he ran towards his brother.

"Hey Goten, did you miss me?" asked Gohan.

"Mmmhmm" replied Goten.

"Well, how about me and you go out and train for a little while, huh, how does that sound?" offered Gohan.

"Oh really? Sure! Mom, can I go train with Gohan? Huh? Please? Pretty please?" Goten asked his mother, even more excited now than he was before.

"Alright, but not too long now, it won't be long until food is ready and then Gohan has home work to do, ok" replied Chichi.

"YAAAAAAYY" shouted Goten as he raced out the door.

"Hey, wait for me" yelled Gohan as he chased after him out of the door.


	2. Chapter 2

A week had passed since Gohan's first day at school. He had managed to adjust rather well, considering he had been home schooled all his life. He managed to get to and from school without anyone noticing his long commute, he was getting on well with everyone and even made some new friends…well, almost.

Gohan was getting on really well with Erasa, there was hardly ever a quiet moment with her so it was easy to speak to her. Sharpner, although was never really interested in what Gohan had to say, didn't disregard him either and at least let him talk rather than just outright ignore him so, that was a bonus.

Videl on the other hand, well, she never really spoke to Gohan, only when it was required of her, such as directly answering a question. What Gohan had noticed though, was that Videl seemed to have been watching him. He had caught her a few times glancing his direction and was beginning to wonder what exactly it was that Videl was after whenever he had caught her looking. Most of the time, when he did catch her looking she would quickly look away.

What Gohan didn't know, however, was that Videl felt a bit uneasy with Gohan, as if there was something mysterious about him, like, he wasn't telling them everything. The incident at baseball, was what really set alarm bells ringing for Videl, after all, nobody jumped that high for a catch and he had a lame excuse as to how he managed to do it. She had already made her mind up, there was something that she didn't like about him and she would get to the bottom of it, if only she had a plan of some sort to find more.

The 4 teenagers were sitting in class, during another one of Miss Hamilton's lectures when Erasa turned to Gohan;

"So Gohan," she said, "We're gonna go shopping at the weekend and maybe go see a film as well, do you wanna come along?".

"Um, yeah sure, I'll need to check with my mother first in case she needs anything but, I think I can manage that" smiled Gohan.

"You need to ask your mom, what are you, five Gohan?" Videl questioned.

"N-No, it's not that, I just have responsibilities at home and I need to make sure that everything is took care of first, that's all" Gohan offered.

"Why not just let your parents take care of your chores and responsibilities, that's what they're for after all" said Sharpner.

Gohan looked a bit uneasy, knowing it wasn't that simple in the Son household before replying, "I'll see what I can do but, no promises, I'll still look forward to it though", and with that, Gohan returned his attention to the front.

Videl was curious at his response, she could see that he didn't want to talk about the subject and was now trying to avoid it altogether. Now she was growing more suspicious that he was hiding something. She had decided that now, she was definitely going to look in to him and see if she could figure out what his deal was exactly, after all, she was the renowned celebrity around here, she wouldn't be doing her due diligence if there was someone right under her nose who were being up to no good.

The rest of the day was uneventful, Gohan tried to deflect any further questions about his 'responsibilities' at home and whether or not he'd be out at the weekend, whilst his friends just gossiped when they weren't trying to pry more information out of Gohan.

Soon, the school day was over and Gohan made his way home, only this time, he didn't go straight home. Whilst on his way home, he told nimbus to stop;

"Why does it bug me so much" he said aloud to himself.

He was referring to the comment about letting his parents do his chores and responsibilities. He sat for a moment on the cloud and decided that he needed to talk to someone about it who would understand.

After pondering for a moment as to who he would speak to about it, he decided that Bulma would probably be the best person to talk to right now, that and the fact that West City was closer right now than anywhere else so it just made sense.

"Ok nimbus, that way" he said to the cloud, pointing in a new direction. The cloud promptly took off and soon they were headed for West City. 

* * *

After a short journey, he arrived at West City and dropped down just in front of the Capsule Corp building.

He entered the building and walked up to the reception desk.

"Um, hi, is Bulma around?" he enquired.

"Oh, hey Gohan, it's been a while since you were last here," said the young lady at the desk, "Sure, I'll call her right now for you".

After a few minutes of waiting, a blue haired woman appeared from a hallway.

"Hey, Gohan, it's nice to see you again, what brings you to our neck of the woods" said Bulma as she greeted him.

"Hey Bulma, I was, er, hoping I could talk to you about something" he replied.

"Sure, let's head through to the kitchen and you can tell me what's on your mind" she replied, noticing the look of anguish on Gohan's face.

They made their way to the kitchen, Bulma inviting Gohan to sit down at the table whilst she made a cup of coffee. Well, it was made for her by her own coffee machine that she had invented years ago, making what Bulma believed to be the perfect cup of coffee, for her, at least.

"So, tell me what's on your mind" she said to Gohan whilst taking a sip from her cup.

"I don't know, it's hard to explain, you see, I was at school today an- ", he had managed to say before he was interrupted.

"Oh, that's right, you started high school last week, didn't you? How are you getting along with kids your own age? Are you fitting in ok?" she enquired.

Gohan suddenly thought that Bulma was beginning to sound like his mother, _do all women act like this_ he thought.

"Yeah, it's fine, I think I'm fitting in quite well but, I was asked something this afternoon and, for some reason, it's eating away at me and I'm not quite sure why, I thought I'd ask someone for some help" he replied.

"Ok, what is this about?" asked Bulma.

"I was talking to my friends this afternoon and, they invited me out this weekend to go shopping and possibly catch a movie" he started.

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad, it seems like you've got some good friends there" said Bulma.

"Yeah" he continued, "the only thing is that I need to check with my mom in case she needs me for anything, and when I said that, Sharpner told me that I should leave my chores and responsibilities to my parents and that, after all, that's what they're for" he said.

"Ok, I can see why that would maybe be an issue if Chichi needs help with anything, but why are you telling me this" Bulma asked.

"That's just it, that comment has really got me stuck and, I don't know why…it…it makes me rather annoyed, ya know" he finished.

"I know what the problem is" came a voice from the doorway. There stood a male, shorter than Gohan, with pointy, jet black hair, wearing a single piece outfit and armour. This of course, could only be one person. The Saiyan Prince, Vegeta.

"It's because you've gone soft, not bothering to train and wasting away behind those books, that's why you're bothered" said the older Saiyan in a rather stern tone.

"Oh, for goodness sake Vegeta, that's all you ever talk about, train, train, train. Can't you stop and think about the situation for just a moment and use your brain instead of your muscles for once" said an unhappy Bulma at her husband.

"Ok," replied Vegeta, "The next time you see this punk, just beat the crap outta him".

"Ugh, really Vegeta, at the slightest bit of disagreement for anything, you just want to beat the crap out of whoever it is that's disagreeing, is that it?" she asked her husband.

"Pretty much, yes" he replied.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised really, after all, you're Saiyan royalty, I'm guessing everyone pretty much had to kiss your ass, huh?" she continued.

"Yes, what's your point?" said Vegeta.

"Ugh, never mind, anyway Gohan, the best advice I can give you is to think about it from their perspective, they've probably had almost everything done for them their whole life, they're not like you, they don't live out in the middle of nowhere, so it might seem strange for them that not only do you have responsibilities, but that you're also concerned about getting them done" offered Bulma.

"I guess you're right, still, I just wish that I could get rid of this feeling, it isn't very pleasant after all" he replied.

"Welcome to teenage life" giggled Bulma.

"Well, thanks for listening to me, I'd better get home before my mom gets mad, I'm already late as it is" he said as he began to stand from the table.

"Sure, no problem, stop by any time" said Bulma.

"Vegeta, good to see you again" said Gohan, now looking over towards the older Saiyan.

"Hmph" snorted Vegeta, "Next time you come here, it had better be to spar with me" he said and with that, he turned his back and headed back down the hall towards the gravity room.

Gohan said his goodbyes and climbed on top of nimbus and took off once more, this time heading for home. 

* * *

Videl's phone rang. It was 8pm in the evening, same time, every evening, the phone rang and every evening, the same person was to be found on the other end of the phone;

"Hey Erasa, what's up?" answered Videl.

"Oh nothing, just wanted to see how you were doing and catch up on gossip, the usual" said Erasa.

"Well, I'm doing fine, like every other day, and, gossip? You know that I don't do gossip, Erasa" said Videl.

"Aww c'mon girl, surely there's gotta be something you wanna talk about, like Gohan" smirked Erasa, even though Videl couldn't see this.

Videl then sat upright and asked, "What about Gohan" she enquired, as if her friend knew something that she didn't.

"Oh please, I've seen how you look at him in class, sure, I might be talking his ear off but I do see things as well you know" said Erasa.

"It's not like that Erasa, I don't look at him like that" Videl quickly replied.

"Sure you don't, wink wink" giggled Erasa.

"Really, I don't, I think he's hiding something and I want to know what it is" said Videl.

"Videl, leave the poor boy alone, he's just transferred here and trying to fit in and you're going to interrogate him like one of the bad guys" said Erasa.

"Well, what if he is a bad guy and we don't know it? What if something bad happened and I could have stopped it? All because I didn't look in to it when I had a chance, no way, I've gotta know Erasa" said Videl.

"Well, suit yourself, I just think you're overreacting." replied Erasa.

"Well, we'll see, I'll catch you later Erasa" said Videl.

"Catch ya later girl" replied Erasa as both girls hung up their phones.

 _I'll find out what you're hiding Gohan, there won't be any secret you can keep from me,_ Videl thought to herself. 

* * *

The weekend had arrived and Gohan was up early. Chichi had asked Gohan to get some more firewood and to get some fish from the river before he could go out with his friends. He opened up the front door to their home and took a breath of the clean, crisp, fresh air and made his way towards the forest.

He stopped after a short walk in to the forest and looked around at all of the trees. Gohan scanned each tree carefully, checking to make sure that there weren't any birds nests that he would accidentally uproot in the process. After taking some time to consider, he picked a tree, not a huge tree and not a small one either but, an average sized tree within the forest. He kicked at the tree hard and watched it tumble to the ground.

After felling the tree, Gohan then dragged it back home and began to chop it down for suitable firewood. The rest, including the leaves, were put in to the garden so as to naturally break down, his mother had taught him to never waste anything so he made sure to put everything he could to use. Once the firewood was stored away and some put back in the house for later that day, he then made his way towards the river.

Once he arrived at the river, he removed most of his clothes and placed them next to a small bush just next to the river and then dove in. Gohan was under the water for some time, longer than any normal person would have been able to stand, even at the peak of their limits. Soon, a large fish was thrown out of the water - it was almost the same height as Gohan it was that big - it then landed on the embankment next to the river. Gohan then popped his head up from under the water;

"Phew, glad I got him when I did, I couldn't stay under there much longer" panted Gohan.

Gohan then climbed out of the river and took a few minutes to drip dry before putting his clothes back on. He then picked up the fish and wandered off back home where he dropped it off to his mother.

"Thanks sweetie" said Chichi, "So where are you going with your friends today" she enquired further.

"Oh, well, we're gonna go to the mall and then maybe catch a movie" said Gohan.

"Well that sounds nice, when are you heading over there?" asked Chichi.

"Well, let's see" said Gohan. He pondered it over for a moment and then realised, he didn't actually know, he was so pre-occupied earlier in the week with his troubles that he hadn't asked, or hadn't heard, he wasn't sure and nobody had said when they would be going out as far as he could recall.

"Erm, I'm not actually sure mom, I don't think I recall them saying what time they were going at" admitted Gohan.

"Well, why not just call one of them up, I'm sure you've got the girls numbers by now" smiled Chichi with a wink towards her eldest son.

"What! No mom, I don't have any of the girls' numbers, I'm just friends with them, that's all" Gohan panickily said.

"Well, even if you don't have any of their numbers, surely you can just look them up in the phone book" offered Chichi.

"I suppose, although, that's a little bit difficult, I don't know their last names either, it's never came up in conversation, hehe" Gohan nervously replied.

"What? You don't know any of their last names" enquired Chichi.

"Actually, I do know one" said Gohan, now a bit reluctant once he realised who it was he was about to mention," Videl's last name is…Satan" said Gohan.

"Satan!? You mean, as in Mr Satan? Are you telling me that girl is related to that overgrown, glory hogging, pig!?" demanded Chichi.

"Hehe, yeah, that's the one" said Gohan.

"Well, I feel bad for that poor girl, having him as a father. Well, I guess you have no other choice, you'll just need to look her up in the phone book and call her" said Chichi.

"Sure mom, I'll go get her number and give her a call" said Gohan.


	3. Chapter 3

Videl liked to lay in bed longer on Saturdays, knowing that this was probably the only day in the week she'll get any relaxation from, well, anything really. Videl, however, was up a bit earlier today. She knew that she'd be going shopping with Erasa, Sharpner and Gohan and had decided that today was maybe a good day to try and pry in to what Gohan knew and find out if he had any secrets that she should know about.

Videl had decided to take a swim in the pool first, she loved to have a dip in the pool on Saturdays but if she was going out with her friends for the day then she wouldn't get the chance later.

Videl was a bit of a tomboy in regards to her likes and her looks. She hadn't really grown up with her mother as she had left them years ago. That only left her and her father, who, wasn't exactly the best role model for her, but it's all that she had in her life. Due to only having her father to look up to, she didn't do make up and hung out with the boys whilst growing up. This led to her standing up for herself more often than would maybe have been expected of her growing up. This was noticed by her father, Mr Satan, who had always instilled the importance of being able to defend oneself, and, should the need arise, fight back. At an early age, he started training his daughter in martial arts, however, this only lasted so long, due to "the champ" winning tournament after tournament and garnering more and more attention from the media and the rest of the world. His training of Videl began to lack and soon Videl started training on her own.

Since she started training on her own, she also started wearing baggier clothes, sometimes even boys' clothes (like t-shirts or just shirts) because they would sometimes fit better or would give her the baggier look that she wanted.

As a result of this, Videl was never comfortable with wearing skimpy looking things, like bikinis or crop tops or anything quite like that, so whenever she went for a swim, even their own private pool she would wear a full, single piece, bathing suit and do a few laps in the pool. Once she was done, she would change back to something, or just cover up with long shorts and a shirt of some description. Today, was the same and Videl did her few laps and sat by the poolside for a short time before she went back to her room, to get ready and go meet up with her friends.

Whilst she was getting changed, her phone rang. She quickly slipped her shorts on and walked over from her walk-in closet to the phone, which sat on a table next to her bed. She answered the phone;

"Hello" she asked.

"H-Hey, Videl?" asked Gohan.

"Yes, who's this?" asked Videl.

"It's me, Gohan" he replied.

' _Gohan, what's he doing calling me?'_ "Oh, hey Gohan, why are you calling me? And how did you get my number?" she asked.

"Oh, I just looked you up in the phone book, after all, it didn't seem like it would be that hard to find the number for you, you know, being the daughter of Mr Satan, heh" replied Gohan nervously.

"Right. Still, that doesn't answer WHY you are calling me. Honestly, I thought you would have called Erasa first, you're much friendlier with her than you are with either me or Sharpner" said Videl.

"Really, I'd have said I was friendly with you all equally, but, that's not why I called. The truth is, I don't actually know Erasa or Sharpner's last names so, I couldn't look them up to call them. And the reason I'm calling is cause, I…don't…know what time we were supposed to be meeting up at" admitted Gohan.

' _Ugh, idiot!'_ "Well, we are supposed to be meeting at noon outside the Satan City mall, do you think you can handle that, living so far away?" she asked.

"Um…yeah, sure, I can make it" replied Gohan.

Videl then had a thought, a smile beamed across her face.

"Tell you what Gohan, I'll come pick you up, save you the journey all by yourself" said Videl.

"What? N-No, that's okay, I know the way to Satan City, after all, I journey there every day you know, heh" replied Gohan nervously; ' _What is she thinking?'_

"Oh, it's no trouble at all, just thought that, you know, you could use company, instead of being stuck on a boring bus yourself, you'd at least have someone to talk to" she replied.

"No, no, really, I'm fine, you don't need to go out of your way to pick me up, I'm fine" replied Gohan, still nervous.

Videl was now starting to get rather annoyed, how else was she going to get some time to talk to Gohan without the others distracting him;

"Look, I'm being nice here and offering you a ride, which I didn't have to do you know, the least you could do is be kind enough to accept my offer" she said, a bit flustered.

Gohan now felt backed in to a corner, he didn't want to offend her or upset her in any way, they weren't exactly the closest of friends him and Videl but he didn't want to do anything to make it harder, maybe this would be a chance to get to know her better, maybe even Videl would start talking to him more like Erasa did? Ok, not quite like Erasa but, just, more in general. He suddenly felt some relief after that thought.

"Ok, sure Videl, that'd be great" Gohan eventually replied.

"Alright, now, where exactly do you live, all I know is that you live out of the city and have to get a bus every day" asked Videl.

"Er…I live in the 439-mountain area" Gohan said, going back to the nervousness he had before. He had completely forgotten about the fact that he lived so far away, surely this would raise suspicion once Videl realised that he didn't just live outside of the city.

"The 439-mountain area? But that's like, an hour away! And that, might I add, is by jet-copter. And you say you take a bus here every day? That must take like…4 hours, no wonder you go straight home after school, you've got no time for anything else" replied Videl, now taken slightly aback.

"Hehe, yeah well, I'm…that dedicated to my studies, hehe" replied Gohan, still nervously.

Videl didn't like that answer but she couldn't see any other reason as to why he'd travel all that way and, as far as she knew, Gohan wasn't a liar, ok maybe he hid secrets but he certainly didn't seem like a liar.

"Well, anyway, I had better start heading over now, it's gonna be a 2 hour round trip at least and we'll be late to meet up with Sharpner and Erasa now since you live that far away" said Videl.

"Ok, when you get here, you're looking for a house that looks like a dome, it'll be surrounded by some forests on either side so, keep an eye out ok?" said Gohan.

"Ok, sure Gohan, it's not like every other house in the world is shaped like a dome" said Videl sarcastically as she sighed as his ridiculous comment, "I'll see you in about an hour" she added.

"Ok, oh and Videl" said Gohan.

"Yeah..." she replied.

"Thanks for offering to pick me up" said Gohan.

"Sure, n-no problem" she replied. ' _Ok, that was…odd but, whatever'._

With that, they both hung up the phone. Videl gathered her stuff and walked out to the garden. There, at one of the corners of the large estate, was a helipad. She removed a capsule from her pocket, clicked the button and threw it on the ground. With a cloud of smoke and large 'poof' of sound, a jet-copter appeared. Videl climbed in to the cockpit, started up the engines and after a few minutes of checking that everything was good, she ushered the copter upwards in to the sky and began to make her way towards the 439-mountain area.

* * *

Gohan returned to the kitchen where Chichi was preparing some food for later.

"So…" asked Chichi, turning around to meet her eldest son, "How did it go"?

"Oh, yeah, just great mom. In fact, Videl…offered to…give me a ride, and…nowshesonherwayhereokgonnagostudy" said Gohan so hurriedly that his mother almost didn't catch it (Now she's on her way here, ok gonna go study).

"Wait! What do you mean she's on her way here, why is she on her way here?" asked Chichi.

"She offered to give me a ride and, she pointed out that it would be rude not to accept a ride with her, seeing as we live all the way out here, heh" said Gohan, hoping his mother wouldn't ask further questions.

"Well, she's not wrong, it would be rude of you to not accept, but, could you not have at least asked her to meet you somewhere else, and pretend that's where you live instead? You know there's a reason we didn't move to the city, Gohan" replied Chichi.

"Oh yeah, I didn't think about that, sorry mom" replied Gohan, with the infamous Son grin now firmly applied.

"Since she's coming here anyway, I'd like to meet this Videl, see if she's good enough for you Gohan" said Chichi.

"What? What do you mean good enough, good enough for what?" asked a puzzled Gohan.

"Why, for marrying of course" replied Chichi, as if it were a casual conversation topic, "after all, you can't go marrying any girl that happens to land on your doorstep".

"Wait! What!? No mom, it's not like that, me and Videl are just friends, there's nothing like that! You can't just go saying things like that" replied a panic stricken Gohan.

Chichi chuckled, "Oh Gohan, it's never too early to think about it. Now, don't forget, when she gets here, you're to introduce me to her, is that understood" commanded Chichi.

"Yes mom" replied Gohan, knowing that it would be useless to argue against his mother.

"Wonderful, now, go get your brother and take him out to play for a while before Videl gets here" said Chichi.

"Ok, sure" he replied.

"Hey Goten, c'mon, we're gonna go outside and train for a while, ok?" shouted Gohan to his young sibling.

Goten, had been in the living room this whole time, watching Saturday morning cartoons such as 'My Hero Academia' and 'One Punch Man', when he heard his brother shouting on him.

Once Goten knew that he'd get to go out and train with his brother, he jumped up and ran back to his room, changed in to his orange Gi (the same as the one his father wore, or so he was told) and hurried towards the kitchen, all the while, shouting;

"I'm coming, I'm coming, don't start without me!".

* * *

Soon the two boys were out in the forest, heading for a small canyon where they could train. It was only about 5 minutes from their home so it wasn't very far at all and they'd still be close enough to see when Videl would be arriving.

"Ok Goten, do you wanna just jump right in then?" Gohan asked.

"Sure" replied Goten with a smile on his face.

And like that, the two boys were sparring, trading shots at each other, darting around and dodging. At one point, Goten went Super Saiyan to outmatch his brother, much to the surprise of Gohan, so much so, that Goten landed a punch right on Gohan's chin, knocking him to the ground;

"Ouuuuuuch! What in the world? Since when have you been able to do that?" questioned Gohan.

"I'm not quite sure, I can't exactly tell time you know, hehe" replied Goten innocently.

"Does mom know about this?" asked Gohan.

"Mmmhmm, sure, the first time I did it was when me and mom were sparring" replied Goten.

"You were sparring with mom!" Gohan asked surprisingly.

"Yeah, while you were in the house studying, me and mom would sometimes go out to spar and this one day, mom hit me hard in the face. I started crying and then, this happened, pretty neat huh Gohan" said the younger Saiyan.

"Wow, really, I never knew" said Gohan, "Ok, tell you what then Goten, let's make this a fair fight".

Gohan then began to power up, his hair turning from a jet black to a golden yellow, his muscles beginning to take a more defined look and a golden aura began to surround him. His eyes also changed to a pale blue colour.

Goten looked up to his brother and could not only see the change, but also feel the energy that radiated from him.

"Woooooooooow" is all Goten said.

"Ok, Goten, let's go!" said Gohan.

And just like that, the two were back at it again, ducking and dodging, throwing punches and kicks, all of course, with much more intensity and speed than before.

* * *

Videl had been flying for close to an hour now on her way to pick up Gohan. She wondered if he'd be ok with allowing her a bit of time to rest before they journeyed back, after all, it is an hour each way.

Videl then came upon a forest and realised that Gohan had said that their home was between forests on either side;

"Well, time to start looking for this house of his" she said to herself.

A few minutes went by and Videl hadn't seen it yet, she had brought the jet-copter to a standstill whilst she looked around trying to decide where his house was likely to be. A twinkle, suddenly caught her eye. Over towards the edge of the forest, just before it turned in to a canyon, were two sparkling objects that appeared to be moving very quickly, in fact, so quickly that Videl was having trouble keeping an eye on them.

At this point, they stopped moving;

"Hey, Gohan, what's that over there" asked Goten.

Gohan turned around to see a jet-copter hovering in the air, some distance from where they were.

"Oh no, I'm guessing that's Videl, quick squirt, let's run in to the forest before she sees us like this, and drop your energy too" said Gohan to his younger sibling.

"Awww, c'mon why, it was just getting good too" said Goten stubbornly.

"Cause Goten, we can't scare her or freak her out with anything like this, she might tell other people who would be far more interested in our lives, then they'd start asking all sorts of questions. Most people don't like having 'Aliens' on Earth after all" replied Gohan.

"Alright" said Goten as they both entered the dense forest and powered down from Super Saiyan. They then began to run through the forest, knowing that the dense foliage would provide them cover that they wouldn't be noticed from above.

Videl noticed that the two sparkling objects had now disappeared.

"What in the world was that" Videl said out loud.

She had decided to go investigate it and see just exactly what it was but as she approached the edge of the forest, she could see nothing at all that would have even been roughly the same size as the objects that she had seen before.

She wanted to go searching in the forest but other than at the edge, there was nowhere for her to set down the jet-copter, plus, she was now beginning to run late to pick up Gohan and she still hadn't found his home yet. She decided that she would come back again at some point to look in to this.

* * *

Gohan and Goten had raced back to their home so that they would arrive there before Videl came to pick Gohan up. Once they arrived, Gohan looked around to see if Videl had arrived yet. He could see the jet-copter but it was still way off in the distance;

"Phew, that was close, it doesn't look like she spotted us on the way here." said Gohan as he then turned towards Goten, "Hey, Goten, I need you to do me a favour, don't talk about the fact that we're Saiyans and can fly and fire energy blasts, got it?" he asked.

"Ummm, ok sure" replied Goten.

The two boys then went in to the house, Goten went back to watching tv, whilst Gohan got changed and freshened up before heading back out the door to see if Videl had arrived yet.

As Gohan had stepped outside, Videl's jet copter was moving in the direction of his home, still slowly though as it looked like Videl was still trying to locate his home.

Videl had been searching for a few minutes when she spotted a domed house just off in the distance, at the other end of the forest. She motioned the jet-copter in that direction and soon could see the house a bit clearer. There appeared to be someone standing just outside of the home, waving in the direction she was travelling from;

"Is that Gohan down there?" she questioned herself.

Once she had gotten closer to the home, she could quite clearly see it was Gohan.

"Finally," she muttered to herself, "Why'd he have to live all the way out here. Well, today has certainly been different, for a few reasons".

Gohan was waving up to Videl as she approached. Soon the jet-copter had touched down and Videl jumped out and on to the ground.

"Hey Videl, thanks for coming" smiled Gohan.

"Hey Gohan, wow, it's not easy finding this place, you weren't kidding when you told us that you lived outside of the city" said Videl.

"Yeah, it really is quite far, huh" he replied.

"Anyway, do you mind if I take a rest for like five minutes, it's a long flight after all" asked Videl.

"Sure," said Gohan nervously as he now realised, his mother would likely have a conversation with Videl. ' _Great, just what I need, mom's gonna interrogate her and try to match us up, ugh. Please let me just get through this unembarrassed'._

"C'mon, we can go inside for a while" said Gohan.

Gohan began walking towards the door while Videl followed him. He opened the door to the house and walked in and shouted in to the house;

"Hey mom, where are you?".

"I'm in the kitchen sweetie" replied Chichi. Gohan then led Videl to the kitchen.

"Hey mom, I want to introduce you to my friend, Videl. She wanted to take a few minutes from all the flying before we head off in to the city" he said to his mother.

"Videl, this is my mother, Son Chichi" he said to Videl.

"Hi, Mrs Son, it's a pleasure to meet you" said Videl. ' _I wasn't expecting to meet Gohan's family, this is certainly turning out to be a busy day'._

"Oh, hi there, it's finally nice to meet one of Gohan's friends. Please, call me Chichi" replied Chichi.

"Ok Mrs S…I mean, Chichi" said Videl.

"So Videl, Gohan hasn't told me much about his friends yet. All I know about you is that you're Mr Satan's daughter" asked Chichi.

"Hehe, yeah that one never stays a secret for long, no matter where I go" said Videl.

"So, tell us about yourself Videl" said Chichi as she motioned for both of them to sit at the kitchen table.

"Um…okay, what would you like to know" asked Videl.

As Chichi and Videl spoke amongst themselves for a few minutes, Gohan began to think to himself.

' _Well, so far so good, nothing embarrassing about me has been said and nobody has spilled the beans on us being super Saiyans, maybe we'll get through this with no problems at all'._

As Gohan was thinking about this, Goten bounced in to the room.

"Hey mom, can I get a…", Goten's voice trailed off as he realised that there was somebody new in the kitchen, "Oh, hi, I'm Goten" he said.

"Hello" said a surprised Videl, "I'm Videl".

"No Goten, you're not getting a cookie, I'm about to start making lunch young man" said Chichi.

"Awww but mom, I'm hungry" said Goten, with puppy dog eyes.

"I said no Goten, you're not going to ruin your appetite. Videl dear, would you like to stay for lunch too" asked Chichi.

"Wow, thank you Chichi, but we really need to get going, we're already running late as it is" replied Videl.

"Oh, that's too bad" said Chichi.

"Well, we'd better get going, huh Videl" said Gohan.

"Right" replied Videl.

With that, both Gohan and Videl stood up from the table.

"I'll see ya later, ok Goten" said Gohan.

"Ok, sure and when you get back, I wanna train some more" said Goten.

"Well, we'll see how long I'm gone for but we'll definitely train tomorrow if I'm late back home, ok?" replied Gohan.

"Yay" said an excited Goten.

"Bye Videl, it was nice meeting you" said Goten to Videl.

"Thank you, it was nice meeting you too Goten. And it was nice meeting you as well Chichi" said Videl.

"Why thank you, do come back again anytime and visit. Gohan, can I have a quick word with you just before you go?" said Chichi.

"Um, sure, go on Videl, I'll be with you in just a moment" said Gohan.

"Ok, thanks again Chichi, I'll be sure to visit" said Videl.

Videl left the house and climbed in to the jet-copter.

"What's up mom?" asked Gohan.

"I just wanted to say that I really like Videl, I can see it now, both of you getting married with all of our friends gathered for the big day" beamed Chichi.

"MOM! I told you, I don't like Videl that way, I barely know the girl" exclaimed Gohan.

"Yeah, I noticed, our little chat revealed things that you neglected to mention" said Chichi.

"Like what exactly?" asked Gohan.

"Well for starters, the poor girl's mother is dead, you could have at least told me that before I was putting my foot in it" said Chichi.

"Huh? I-I didn't know that" replied Gohan.

"And that's my point Gohan, you need to get to know her better before you get married to her" said Chichi.

"MOM! Seriously, it's not like that, we're just friends. I think I'm gonna go now, bye mom" said Gohan, hurriedly.

"Don't forget Gohan, no later than 10pm, got that?" said Chichi.

"Of course, mom" he said as he was leaving.

Gohan then joined Videl in the jet-copter and as the flying machine took off, Goten and Chichi had went outside to wave goodbye to the two teenagers and soon, Gohan and Videl were far off in the distance, heading back towards Satan City.

* * *

"Well, that was certainly interesting, wouldn't you say Gohan?" asked Videl.

"Hehe, yeah, sorry about that, but you wanted a few minutes rest so, I thought it would make sense to head indoors and then, it just sorta happened hehe" said Gohan.

"Yeah right, we could have just stayed outside for five minutes then headed off again. Anyway, I've got a few questions for you, seeing as we've got about an hour now" said Videl.

"Oh, what kinda questions?" asked Gohan. ' _I hope she's not gonna ask about anything remotely Saiyan related, that might be kinda hard to explain'._

"Well, first off, you didn't tell us you had a brother" said Videl.

"Oh, right, well, it just never came up in conversation I guess" replied Gohan.

"Ok I suppose that's true, I'll let you off with that one, but, what about your dad? I didn't meet him, where is he? At work?" enquired Videl.

"My dad? Um…he's…he's not with us anymore" said Gohan as a look of gloom began to creep on to his face.

"Oh!" Videl gasped, "I'm sorry Gohan, I didn't know" she replied.

"It's ok, I mean, how else could you have known if you didn't ask" he replied.

"Still, I feel bad for asking so abruptly" she said.

"It's fine, could we, maybe move on to something else, please?" he asked.

"Sure. Oh, here's one for ya. When I was on my way over here, I saw two objects that appeared to be flying around, out towards the far end of the forest just by the canyon. Any idea what they were?" she asked.

' _Great, I was hoping to avoid this subject, gotta think of something Gohan'._

"Well, it could have just been birds, or dinosaurs, after all, being out here, it's more likely to be some kind of flying reptile, hehe" he replied.

"Nah, they looked more like people I would say, plus, they seemed to be glowing gold. I only thought that, seeing as you live out here and there doesn't seem to be anyone else living so close around here that, maybe you knew who or what it was" said Videl as she began to get in to a quizzical mood.

"Hmm, nope, no idea, maybe you just seen a reflection of the sun or something, hehe" replied Gohan.

' _He seems to be dodging the question a bit, reflection of the sun, yeah right, how stupid does he think I am?'._

"Nah, I don't think it was the reflection of the sun, it was more like a gold colour than sunlight" she replied.

"I…don't know what to tell you then, heh" replied Gohan, with a bit of defeat in his voice.

"Well, I haven't got time to check it out now but I'll be back to find out what that was. Maybe I'll stop by your house and talk with Chichi next time I'm out looking for whatever that was, maybe she'll tell me something about you that you'd be embarrassed by, hmmm" said Videl.

"N-No, that's not necessary, I'm sure you've got better things to do than sit down for a chat with my mom" said Gohan nervously.

"And why do you say that Gohan, hmmm? Is my coming over not wanted?" said Videl as she glared over at Gohan.

"N-No it's not that, not that at all" said Gohan in a panic.

"Then it's settled, the next time I'm out this way looking in to, whatever those two were, I'll stop by and say hi to Chichi and Goten" said Videl.

"S-Sure" replied Gohan.

As the they flew towards Satan City, they continued with small chat for the remainder of the journey, with Gohan, trying to make sure that they steered away from certain subjects (Gold haired people, Cell games, his dad, her mother, etc).


	4. Chapter 4

About an hour later, Videl and Gohan arrived in Satan City. It was particularly busy today which made it more difficult for Videl to set down the jet-copter. Eventually, she managed to set it down in a park, long enough for both of them to get out and for Videl to store it back in its capsule. Once they were on the ground, Gohan and Videl started towards the mall.

' _Well, I suppose I should ask her something, after all, mom was right about one thing, I don't really know that much about Videl'._

"So, Videl…what's it like, having Mr Satan for a celebrity of a dad?" asked Gohan.

"Huh? Why'd you ask" replied Videl.

"Well, my mom made a point about the fact that, I don't really know you that well and that, I should try to get to know you better" he said. "And Sharpner and Erasa too, of course" he added.

"Oh, well, it's not as great as you'd think, he's always drinking and watching old martial arts videos, reliving his glory days" she replied. "But let's just keep that between you and me, I don't like telling people about me or my family and I'd like it to stay that way, are we clear?" she continued.

"Sure, I won't tell a soul" said Gohan.

"Good" replied Videl.

' _Well, that went well, now didn't it Gohan. Geez, why can't asking a question just be simple'._

"I've got a question for you Gohan" said Videl.

"Ok, sure, what is it" asked Gohan.

"Well, whilst I was sitting talking to your mom, I noticed a few pictures hanging on the walls" said Videl.

"Oh" replied Gohan.

"And they were interesting, I seen one which looked like a dragon and some orange coloured balls, it appeared to be hand drawn" continued Videl.

"Oh yeah, I drew that a few years ago" replied Gohan, "Mom liked it so much that she decided to hang it up" he finished.

"Wow, I knew you were book smart, but I had no idea you could draw so well" said Videl.

"Well, it's not something I studied, I just practiced whenever I had some spare time or, had something on my mind" said Gohan.

"Oh, like what?" asked Videl.

"Well, generally it would be something quite personal, like my father for example" he said.

"Oh, of course" said Videl, remembering that Gohan didn't want to talk about his father.

"What about the picture of a big green guy and that kid? Was that you? And who was that guy in the picture?" asked Videl.

"Yeah, that kid in the picture was me, the big green guy? Why that's my friend, Piccolo. Actually, he was my mentor first and then he became my friend" said Gohan.

"Mentor? Mentor for what?" asked Videl.

"Er…martial arts. And surviving in the wild" replied Gohan.

"Martial arts? You? Yeah, sure, nice one Gohan." said Videl.

' _If only you knew the half of it Videl'._

"It's true, I do know some Martial arts" said Gohan.

"Oh really, is that so? Well, tell you what then Gohan, how about one day, me and you have a sparring match and we'll see just exactly how much "Martial arts" you know, okay?" said Videl.

"Um, yeah, sure, sounds like fun" said Gohan, with a bit of a nervous laughter that followed.

' _Sure, great Gohan, that was a nice move, you're going to have to figure a way out of that as well. Maybe I should stop talking, it just keeps getting me in to trouble'._

The two continued to walk for another few minutes. Shortly, they arrived outside the mall where Sharpner and Erasa were already waiting for them.

"Hey Gohan. Hey Videl. Oh, are you two here, together?" giggled Erasa.

"Ugh, what? No Erasa, we are not" Videl was quick to say.

"Oh" said Sharpner, "Then why did you arrive together? And what took you so long" with a smirk on his face.

"Well, this guy here" as she pointed at Gohan, "didn't know what time we were meeting at today and he didn't know any of your last names to look you guys up in the phone book, but of course, everyone knows me, so he looked me up and called me to find out" said Videl.

"Oh, he called you did he" said Erasa, still giggling. Videl chose to ignore that comment and continued.

"And then I learned that he lives like, really, really far away from here, that he would have been way too late, so, I offered him a ride" said Videl.

"Really? Where exactly do you live that would have made you that late" said Sharpner, although, he didn't really seem like he was over eager to know the answer.

"Erm…the 439-mountain area" said Gohan, reluctantly.

"WHAT!?" shrieked both Sharpner and Erasa at the same time.

"But, but how? How do you make it all the way out here for school and…well…anything?" cried Erasa.

"He has to take the bus, remember?" said Videl. "I said it would take like 4 hours, hence why I offered him a ride, it cut the journey down to an hour, at least, in one direction anyway" said Videl.

"S-Sure" said Erasa.

"That's all very interesting and all but, can we hurry up, I've gotta start flexing for the lovely ladies" said Sharpner.

"Ugh, sure, let's get going so we can indulge your fantasy Sharpner" said Videl.

With that, they made their way in to the mall. Sharpner instantly spotted a group of young women and decided it was his cue to leave the group and do his thing.

There were no objections from any of the remaining trio as the continued further in to the mall, past the food court and on to the shops.

"So, what are we here to buy anyway" asked Gohan.

"Oh, nothing really, we're just going to go around the shops and see if there's anything that we like." replied Erasa.

"Oh, ok, I just thought you knew what it was you were shopping for" said Gohan.

"That's not how it works silly" said Erasa.

"It's not?" replied Gohan.

"No" smiled Erasa, "First, you pick a shop and then just walk in and start looking around at everything that they've got and if you like something, you buy it. It doesn't have to be something you need either" she finished.

"So, what happens if you go around all of the shops and don't see anything you like?" he asked.

"Well then, you just don't buy anything. Seriously Gohan, have you ever been shopping with women before?" asked Erasa.

"No, not really, I've only ever been shopping with my mom and my brother" he replied.

"Wait, you have a brother? You never told us this before Gohan? Tell me, what's he like? Is he older? Cute? Or is he younger? And a little cutie too?" said Erasa, speaking so fast Gohan was almost not keeping up.

"Erm, he's only 7 and, I don't know about him being a little cutie" replied Gohan.

"Videl, did you know this?" quizzed Erasa.

"Yeah, I only found out about it myself on our way over here" replied Videl.

"Wow, you sure like to keep to yourself, don't you Gohan?" said Erasa.

Videl would like to have chimed in here and agree but, she had decided that, unless she had some kind of solid proof that Gohan was actually hiding something, she would just keep the thought of him hiding something to herself. Although, she still wanted to know how he managed to catch that ball during baseball at school.

Videl had remembered that sometimes there were some carnival type shows in the centre of the mall on occasion and they just happened to have one of those strongman type games where you had to ring the bell by hitting the lever with a hammer. Videl wanted to check if that time in baseball was some sort of weird fluke or if Gohan actually was extraordinary.

"Hey, I have an idea. After we've been through the shops, who would like to go to the indoor carnival games and have a bit of fun" she asked her friends.

"Really Videl? You never want to play on those things, you've always said that they're kiddie games" said Erasa.

"True but they've got one of those strongman games and I want to test it, maybe even convince Gohan here to be a bit spontaneous and do something fun. Whaddya say Gohan?" said Videl.

"What? Oh no, I don't think I'd be any good at that sort of thing" said Gohan.

' _I've got to get out of this one somehow, I can't show off my strength or they'll know somethings up'._

"Aww c'mon Gohan, I think you'd do great" said Erasa, as she latched on to Gohan's arm and started poking at his biceps.

"Gee, you think" said Gohan who was now going a bit red with embarrassment.

Videl had begun chuckling to herself. ' _Well, for once, Erasa's forwardness is actually helping'._

The trio continued going from shop to shop, looking for, whatever caught their eye. They happened to be passing by a martial arts store. It had all sorts of training equipment, weapons and attire. This caught the eye of both Gohan and Videl. Erasa was not too keen on the store, it didn't have any nice clothes in it for starters.

"Why don't we go take a look in there" said Videl.

"Sure, sounds good to me" said Gohan.

"It's not really my style in there, how about I head over to that cute little shop over there" as she pointed across from the store that they were in front of, "and I'll get you guys out front when you're done" she finished.

The three of them agreed and Gohan and Videl stepped in to the martial arts store, whilst Erasa headed over to the clothes store.

Videl made her way over to the training equipment, Gohan had followed initially but after inspecting the equipment, he had decided that there wasn't anything of any use there that would be of any actual use to him. He moved on to the weapons that were on show. He remembered that as a child when Piccolo was training him that he had a sword, but now, as a proper Saiyan warrior, he had no need of a weapon so once again, he moved on.

Eventually, Gohan found himself in front of the store's clothes aisle. There he seen Gi's of all different colours and styles. He examined them carefully as he inspected each one. Soon, Videl joined him;

"Really Gohan? You're actually looking for a Gi?" said Videl.

"Yeah, I did say that I have done some martial arts didn't I? Besides, if you want to fight me, I'll need a new Gi" said Gohan.

' _Seriously Gohan! What are you doing? You're trying to get out of having a sparring match and here you are, looking for a new Gi?'._

"Oh, is that so? Well then, don't let me stop you" said Videl.

She then picked up a Gi herself, unimpressed with what she had found;

"What the hell!" exclaimed Videl. Gohan turned around to see what Videl was so upset about.

"What's wrong Videl?" he said.

"Just look at it!" she replied.

"It's…pink?" Gohan said with a puzzled look on his face.

"What! No, have you got something against pink Gi's" Videl demanded.

"What! No! I…just don't know what your problem is with the Gi" admitted Gohan.

"They've included a skirt with this. It-It's just improper, I can't take this seriously at all" was her reply.

They each kept picking up and viewing different Gi's for a while, until Videl picked up another Gi. This one caught Gohan's attention;

"Hey, that one would like great on you" said Gohan.

"You think so?" asked Videl. The Gi in question, was purple, had off-white pants and a black sash with which to tie it.

"Definitely, I could see you wearing that for sparring" he replied.

Videl blushed with embarrassment and turned away for a moment as she placed the Gi back. She wasn't used to any sort of compliment like that. Normally, any guy that she was around was always comparing themselves to either her or her father so it was, pleasantly surprising for someone to say something nice about her for a change.

"Um…thanks, Gohan" Videl said, trying to find a way to show her appreciation, without wanting to sound sarcastic.

As she turned back around towards him, she stopped. Stunned at the sight that was now before her;

"What is that thing?" said Videl.

Gohan had picked up a bright orange Gi with matching pants and a blue sash with which it tied.

"What? I think it looks great" replied Gohan.

Videl blushed, again with embarrassment, only this time, it was embarrassment for Gohan.

"Seriously" said Videl, as she stifled a laugh, "you think that looks great, that's the most hideous thing I think I've ever seen, and that includes the one with the skirt" laughed Videl.

Gohan looked back at Videl with a bit of hurt in his eyes as he placed the Gi back, his head sunk down and he shuffled back out the door.

Videl was surprised at Gohan's reaction and followed after him out the door. As she caught up with him, she quickly questioned him;

"Hey, Gohan, what's wrong? Don't tell me I hurt your feelings because of the colour of that thing" said Videl.

"Well, yeah a bit but, it's not the colour that's the problem" he replied with a defeated tone.

"Well then, what is it" demanded Videl.

"I was gonna buy that because, it looks exactly the same as the one my dad used to wear" he replied.

Videl walked in front of Gohan and stopped him, then clasped her hands over her mouth as she gaped at what he had just said. She realised, why he was so hurt by what she had said. To him, it sounded like she was basically insulting his father and ridiculing Gohan.

"I'm, so, so sorry Gohan, I-I wouldn't…" she said, but she was unable to find the words to finish the sentence.

"Excuse me Gohan, I-I'll be right back" said Videl, as she ran back the way they had just came and headed for the nearest restroom.

Erasa was just heading out from the other store that she was in and had seen Videl run off. She then headed over to Gohan and asked him;

"Gohan, what's wrong? Why is Videl running away" asked Erasa.

Gohan then told Erasa the story of what had just happened in the store and what it meant to him.

"Oh, you poor thing Gohan. I'm sure Videl didn't mean anything by it" said Erasa.

"I know she wasn't being mean and that she didn't know that's what my dad wore but, it still hurt me. I just hope Videl knows that I'm not mad at her" said Gohan.

"Don't worry about it, I'll go find her and talk to her, ok" replied Erasa.

"Ok" said Gohan, his spirits slightly lifted.

With that, Erasa headed off in the direction that Videl had gone.

* * *

Erasa had searched through the shops, mostly the ones that Videl would have frequented, but had seen no sign of her best friend. She then decided to try the restrooms. She entered one of them and seen that all the stalls appeared to be empty as she then called out;

"Videl, are you in here?

There was no response but as Erasa had turned around to walk back out, she heard someone sniffle and turned back around.

The door to the last stall opened up and out stepped Videl.

"Videl! Hey girl, are you alright" asked Erasa as she ran up to Videl. There were no tears but it looked as if Videl had been crying. Erasa had never known her friend to cry in all the years that she had known her.

"No!" replied Videl. "Of, course I'm not alright, I just straight up insulted Gohan and his family by making that ridiculous joke about the colour of the Gi. I'm mad at myself for how hurtful that was towards him, and I bet he's so angry with me now, huh?" said Videl.

"Actually," started Erasa, "he seems to be very understanding about it, in fact, he said that he's not mad at you and he hoped that you would understand that he's not mad at you" she finished.

"What? What do you mean he's not mad, I'd be furious if I were him, how can he not be mad?" replied Videl.

"He said that, you couldn't have known that his father wore the same style of Gi, it was something that just hasn't come up in conversation" said Erasa.

"That may be true, but that's no excuse Erasa, if I've offended him then, I need to apologise, I just have to" said Videl.

"Well then" said Erasa, "why don't we head back out there and find him".

"Ok" replied Videl.

* * *

Videl and Erasa had now headed back to where they had left Gohan but he was nowhere to be seen. They continued walking and looking through all the shops trying to see where Gohan had gone;

"Please don't tell me he's run off too" said Videl.

"I told him to stay here while I talked to you" replied Erasa.

A few minutes had passed by and just as they were passing another window, Erasa spotted him.

"Hey Videl, I see him, he's over here" she said.

Videl stopped and turned back where she looked in to the window of a…florist.

"Huh, what's he doing in there?" asked Videl.

Gohan could be seen purchasing a vase. It was a really nice vase too, crystal clear with a blue hue to it and a rose design on the front. The shopkeeper was wrapping it up for Gohan when Videl and Erasa walked in to the store.

"Hey Gohan" said Videl.

Gohan turned around to see the girls walk in to the store.

"Oh hey, you're back. I was just buying a vase for my mom, she's always gardening and never has anywhere to put her flowers, so I thought I'd buy this for her" he said.

"Oh, isn't that so sweet of you" said Erasa.

"Gohan" said Videl.

"No need to say anything Videl, I'm not mad" said Gohan before he was cut off.

"That's not the point Gohan, I need to say it, it wasn't right for me to make fun of the Gi and I'm sorry if I've offended you" she said.

"Ok, if it makes you feel better Videl, I forgive you" he replied.

"Thank you" replied Videl.

Just as the three had left the store, Sharpner was strolling by;

"Hey, I've been looking for you guys, I'm just headed over to the indoor carnival, I'm gonna wow the ladies when I ring the bell on high striker, are you coming along" he asked.

"Sure, sounds like fun" said Erasa.

Videl was thinking to herself, ' _Sure, if it means watching you lose and making a fool out of yourself, then I'm game. Although, I'd really like to see Gohan take a shot and see if he's actually hiding some sort of weird strength, after all, he doesn't look like the strong type'._

* * *

The four teenagers made their way to the indoor carnival. There, there were all sort of fun rides and sideshows. There were dodgems, high striker, teacups, a soft play for little kids and trampolines. Sharpner made straight for high striker, where there were small crowds of young women watching other would-be strongmen trying their luck.

Erasa, having seen a nail salon just across from the indoor carnival, decided that she'd take some time to go and get her nails done. Sharpner was stepping up to the game and turned around to the crowd of young women;

"Alright ladies, watch a real man do this" Sharpner exclaimed, as he picked up the hammer.

He swung the hammer over his head and drew it back down on to the lever, whilst the girls watched on in awe.

The puck moved swiftly up and up and up, eventually settling at ninety-two (it went up to one hundred). Sharpner was pleased with himself, whilst he didn't ring the bell, he was now currently the top score as nobody else had even broke past eighty until now.

"Oh Yeah" he exclaimed. The young ladies were now crowding round him as they moved off to the side.

"Hey, Gohan, wanna see something funny?" asked Videl.

"Sure" replied Gohan.

Videl then walked towards the game and looked over at Sharpner. He stopped to look, as did all the young women.

Videl picked up the hammer and brought it crashing down on to the lever. The puck made its way up, up and up and rang the bell before falling all the way back down.

The young women were now in awe of Videl, whilst Sharpner panicked. Videl then walked back towards Gohan, ignoring the young women. Sharpner was able to keep them interested in him, although he shot a look over to Videl as if to say 'That wasn't very nice of you'.

"Hey Gohan, you should give it a try" said Videl.

' _Oh man, with everything that was going on earlier, I've forgotten about this, is there any way I can get out of this?'._

"What's wrong Gohan, are you too chicken?" beckoned Videl, motioning him towards the game.

' _Oh well, guess I've just gotta be careful when I hit this thing'._

Gohan then stepped up and picked up the hammer. Sharpner caught sight of this;

"You're really gonna take a swing at it? Haha, oh boy, this ought to be good" he said.

Gohan didn't raise the hammer over his head to take a big swing. In fact, he held the hammer as close to the head as he possibly could and lightly tapped the lever. The puck shot straight up and was fast, so fast in fact that the bell flew off the top along with the puck and were up there for a good five seconds before it decided to fall back down.

Gohan turned around to see Sharpner and the young women's expressions, which of course, was dumbfounded. He then turned to Videl, whose face had gone white as a ghost and a blank look on her face as if to say 'What just happened?'. Gohan then put the hammer down and walked back over to Videl.

"Hehe, I guess it must be broken, no way I could have done that" he said nervously.

"Yeah, sure, I guess" said Videl, with a confused look still across her face.

"C'mon, maybe we should go do something else" said Gohan, hoping that Videl would just accept that it was broken.

Of course, Videl was never going to accept that excuse but, she didn't know how else to word a question that would ask if you were superhuman or not.

Just as they had begun to walk towards the nail salon to get Erasa, Gohan heard a familiar voice calling his name;

"Hey, Gohan, what's happening bro".

Gohan turned around to see his old friend standing there.

"Krillin!" said Gohan with some excitement in his face. "What are you doing here?".

"Well, we needed to go shopping, your mom called and invited us over for dinner earlier today, did she not tell you?" asked Krillin.

"No, she didn't, I must have already left when she had called" replied Gohan.

"Ahem" coughed Videl.

"Huh, oh right, sorry, where are my manners" said Gohan.

"Krillin, this is my friend Videl. Videl, this is my friend Krillin, he and I have been friends since I was a kid, and he was friends with my dad since they were kids too" he said.

"Hey, nice to meet ya" said Krillin.

"It's nice to meet you" replied Videl.

"Hey Krillin, what did you mean, "we" were shopping?" asked Gohan.

Krillin motioned over his shoulder to the soft play area, where Marron was playing with 18 watching her. 18 waved over to Gohan who waved back.

"So, what are you two up to anyway" asked Krillin.

"Oh, we're just shopping with our friends Erasa, who's in the nail salon over there, and Sharpner, who's trying to win over the girls over there" said Gohan as he pointed out Erasa and Sharpner respectively.

"I see, well, I've gotta run, I hope to see you tonight Gohan. And it was nice meeting you Videl." said Krillin.

"Thanks, it was nice to meet you too" she replied.

And with that, Krillin turned and went back to his family. Gohan and Videl continued in the direction of the nail salon.

"Krillin eh, I feel like I know that name from somewhere but I'm not sure where" said Videl.

"Well, the only place I would guess you could know him from would be the World Martial Arts Tournament" replied Gohan.

"Oh yeah, I remember now, my dad has watched old world tournament videos and his name popped up a number of times. He did quite well, always making it to the final rounds before being knocked out of the competition" said Videl.

"Yeah, that's him. Anyway, shall we get going?" asked Gohan.

The two then walked off to go get Erasa.

* * *

"So, was that Gohan's girlfriend?" asked 18.

"He said it was his friend, but I'm thinking he really wants to say girlfriend, hehe" said Krillin.

"Well, in any case, Chichi will likely be the one who decides whether or not that Gohan has a new friend or a new girlfriend" said 18.

"Oh boy, Chichi won't be able to see anything but wedding bells in that boy's future" replied Krillin.

"Anyway, I'm off to get the rest of the stuff before dinner tonight, ok babe" said Krillin.

"Sure" replied 18.

Krillin then set off to continue their shopping whilst she kept an eye on Marron as she played.

* * *

Gohan and Videl were sitting in the nail salon waiting on Erasa as her nails were not done yet. Sharpner was still trying to impress the ladies although it had become a lot more difficult after Videl and then Gohan's antics with the high striker.

Gohan decided that he would phone home and ask his mother whether or not he was required to be at dinner that evening seeing as it seemed that she had invited people over.

"Hey, you two don't mind if I quickly go and call my mom, seeing as she's throwing a dinner party, I'd like to know if I need to be there or not" asked Gohan.

"Sure, go ahead" said Erasa.

"Sure" replied Videl.

Gohan exited the nail salon and walked around until he found a pay phone. He dialled his home and waited for someone to answer. Eventually, someone picked up.

"Hello" came a small voice.

"Hey Goten, it's me" said Gohan.

"Gohan, hey, how are you?" asked Goten.

"I'm fine, hey, is mom there, I need to ask her a question" said Gohan.

"Sure, hold on a minute while I get her" replied Goten.

Goten then walked through to the kitchen where Chichi was preparing the food for that evening.

"Hey mom, Gohan is on the phone and wants to ask you something" said Goten.

Chichi took the phone from her youngest son.

"Hi Gohan, what's wrong? Why are you calling?" asked Chichi.

"Hey mom, nothing's wrong, it's just that I bumped in to Krillin and he said that you were inviting everyone over for dinner tonight. I was just checking in to see if you needed me to be there"

"Oh, well yeah, that would be appreciated Gohan, after all, they are your friends as well you know" said Chichi.

"Sure mom, what time do you want me to be home" asked Gohan.

"Let's see, I've asked everyone else to be here at seven so, I'd say be home around six, that should give us time to get set up and for you and Goten to get cleaned up" said Chichi.

"Ok mom, no problem, I'll be home around six" said Gohan.

"Oh, and Gohan, there's one more thing I'd like you to do" said Chichi.

"Hmm, what's that?" asked Gohan.

"Would you please invite Videl as well, I need to make sure you're doing everything you can if you're going to win this girl over and marry her" said Chichi.

"WHAT! Mom! No! I told you it's not like that, we're just friends" exclaimed Gohan.

"WELL I DON'T CARE, YOU ARE GOING TO INVITE THAT GIRL AND THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME GOHAN!" yelled Chichi over the phone.

"Y-Yes mom" replied Gohan sheepishly.

"Wonderful, I'll see you when you get home dear" said Chichi with a smile now beaming across her face as she hung up the phone.

Gohan's face had suddenly dropped. How did he manage to end up in this mess? His only hope now would be that Videl would see sense and would politely decline the offer. Of course, Videl was not about to do that, it would be the perfect opportunity for her to learn more about Gohan and find out if he truly was hiding something like she had suspected.

Gohan was walking back to the nail salon when he caught sight of Videl approaching him.

"Hey Videl, what are you doing out here? I thought you would be inside waiting for Erasa" said Gohan.

"I was, she's just about finished so she'll be out in a minute or two. So, what did your mom say?" asked Videl.

"She asked me to be home around six to help set up for dinner so, I'll probably head home a lot sooner than I was expecting" replied Gohan.

"Sure, it's not like we had any major plans, we normally just goof around on the weekend anyway" said Videl.

"Right, sure" said Gohan.

"Oh, there is another thing. My mom asked me…to…invite you…over for dinner…this evening, if you would like to that is?" asked Gohan.

Videl couldn't quite believe what she had heard, she was looking for some sort of excuse in order to go back to Gohan's home in the hopes of snooping about and finding out more about him but she hadn't expected it to be so soon.

"I'm sure you're busy and don't want to spend your Saturday night bored with me and my family. After all, it's not like we're really close or anything and-" said Gohan before he was cut off.

"I'd love to" replied Videl.

"R-Really" said Gohan.

"Is that a problem, Gohan?" scowled Videl.

"N-No, not at all, I just thought you wouldn't really be that interested is all" replied Gohan.

"Well, we are friends after all, it would be impolite of me to say no. Besides, your mom did say I was welcome anytime I wanted to come over" said Videl.

"Sure, that makes sense. Well, you don't need to give me a ride home as I'm sure you'll want to go home and get cleaned up or get changed before dinner" said Gohan.

"And what exactly is wrong with the way I'm dressed, huh Gohan?" scowled Videl once more.

"N-Nothing, I just thought that maybe you would want the option, rather than taking me home and not having a choice to change or, do whatever else you want before dinner" stuttered Gohan.

"Well, as it so happens, I would like the time to maybe get changed before dinner" said Videl.

"Ok, well, I'll need to get going then so that I can get home in time" said Gohan.

"And just exactly what time do I need to be there for?" asked Videl.

"Well, everyone who was invited is meant to be there for about seven so, you could turn up at seven if you would like or you can come a little earlier if you want, just so that you'll have a chance to talk to my mom again before everyone else shows up" said Gohan.

"That's fine, I'll be there for seven" replied Videl.

As she was saying this, Erasa walked up from behind Videl, having just left the nail salon.

"Hey guys, what's up?" asked Erasa.

"Uh, sorry Erasa but, I need to get going" said Gohan.

"What? But why?" asked Erasa.

"My mom is having a dinner party with my friends and family and I've been asked to be there this evening" explained Gohan.

"Aww, well, I suppose if you've gotta go, you've gotta go" said Erasa.

"Yeah, sorry, but hey, maybe we can hang out again next weekend" said Gohan.

"Sure" said Erasa.

"Ok, I'll see both of you later, and say bye to Sharpner for me as well please" said Gohan.

"Ok, we'll see you later Gohan" replied Erasa.

Once Gohan was some distance away and out of earshot, Videl turned to her friend;

"Hey, Erasa, I need some help of a…girly, nature" said Videl.

Erasa was stunned, Videl had never asked anything like this before.

"Wha-Whatever for?" asked Erasa.

"Well, remember how I picked Gohan up today to get him here?" said Videl.

"Uh-huh" replied Erasa.

"Well, I took a break for about 10 mins after flying over there and I ended up meeting his mom" said Videl.

"Oh, meeting the parents already Videl" said Erasa with a wink towards Videl.

"Cut that out would you" retorted Videl.

"Anyway, his mom said I was welcome over anytime and that dinner that he's away home to, well, she invited me to it as well" said Videl.

"Oh, a dinner invite, how sweet, you get to spend time with Gohan" said Erasa, winking some more to Videl.

"Would you stop that, it's not like that. I'm going over there to see if I can find out what that boy is hiding, I just know he's hiding something" replied Videl.

"Oh, would you stop with that, just go and have a good time and stop worrying about nothing" said Erasa.

Videl wasn't going to be deterred by Erasa's words.

"Anyway, could you help me, I want to get cleaned up a little but, not all glammed up, I mean, it's just a family dinner I'm going to" said Videl.

"Say no more, c'mon, let's tell Sharpner that we're heading home and we'll get started right away" said Erasa excitedly.

The two girls then went back to where they had left Sharpner trying to impress the young ladies. He was still there and, to his credit, was still chatting up one or two of the young ladies who had been there earlier. The two girls told Sharpner that they were heading home and made up some lie that he would believe so as to not give the game away as to what they were really up to.


	5. Chapter 5

Gohan had left the mall and, like any school day, made his way outside the city and called on his trusty friend, nimbus, who arrived like a flash and carried Gohan homeward.

"Oh man, I can't believe that she actually said yes, why? I mean, it's not like it's going to be anything special, in fact, it'll probably be the most boring night of her life" said Gohan, muttering to himself before he continued.

"And she'll get to meet all my friends. Krillin and 18 will be easy but, how do I explain Piccolo" he pondered.

"Then you've got Trunks and Goten and they'll start sparring and, before you know it, Vegeta will start sparring with me. This is not gonna be great" sighed Gohan.

Eventually, Gohan returned home and jumped off nimbus and let the little cloud fly off again. He walked in the front door and closed it behind him.

"Mom, I'm home" he called out.

"Gohan? What are you doing home so soon? I said I wouldn't need you until six" said Chichi.

"Yeah I know mom but, they think I take the bus to and from Satan City and that it takes about four hours, if I didn't leave then they'd be a bit suspicious about how I was going to make it home so fast" replied Gohan.

"Oh, ok but, could you not have just gotten a ride with Videl, speaking of which, where is she? Did you invite her like I told you to?" asked Chichi.

"Yes mom, I invited her, she wanted to go home first and get changed and, honestly, I didn't even think about hitching a ride with her" he replied.

"Good, oh I can't wait until she gets here" chirped Chichi.

"Sure, but mom, what about Goten and Trunks, they'll start sparring outside whilst they're both here and then Videl will find out about how strong we really are and all the things we can do" said Gohan with a concerned look on his face.

"Don't you worry Gohan, I'll have a talk with Goten before Trunks gets here and I'll call Bulma and let her know before they get here too" replied his mother.

"Gee, thanks mom, that'd be great" said Gohan, his spirits lifted.

"You're welcome sweetie, now, since you're here, could you do me a favour and go down to the river and get us some fresh fish, I sent Goten down there a short while ago but knowing him, he's probably playing with them rather than catching them" said Chichi.

"Sure mom, no problem, I'll go get them" he replied.

Gohan then turned back towards the door to make his way out but stopped before he got there.

"Oh, mom, before I forget, here, I got you this" he said as he took a parcel out from his bag.

"Oh, for me, what is it" asked Chichi.

"Open it mom" said Gohan with a smile on his face.

Chichi opened the parcel to find a lovely crystal vase with a blue hue and a rose pattern on the front.

"Oh Gohan, it's beautiful, thank you my darling boy, thank you" said Chichi as her eyes started to well up. She kissed her son on the cheek and off he went to go get his brother and part of the evening's dinner.

* * *

"Okay so, what kinda look are you going for here Videl" asked Erasa.

"I don't know, that's why I brought you here, to help me pick something out" replied Videl.

The two girls were in Videl's bedroom where Erasa was in the walk-in closet trying to find something for Videl to wear whilst Videl was looking in to her mirror, trying to decide how the night was going to play out for her.

"Well, you've got a lot of clothes here that don't look like they've even been worn once" said the blonde-haired girl.

"Yeah, I keep getting clothes as gifts or presents but, I only wear these clothes as they make it much easier for me to take down bad guys, ya know" said Videl as she looked down at her clothes in the mirror.

"Hmm, ok, how about this" said Erasa. She had brought out a form fitting red v-neck t-shirt and white jeans.

"Ugh, what, no way, why do I even have something like that" replied Videl.

"Ok then, what about…this" replied Erasa, this time, holding a white summer dress with yellow sunflowers dotted around it.

"…I mean, it does look nice" said Videl, "however, I still want to be ready in case anything happens and I need to jump in to action" she finished.

"Seriously, what are you gonna do there, beat up one of his family members" laughed Erasa.

"What, it might be way out there but you never know, something might happen" replied Videl.

"I think I have just the thing" said Erasa as she pulled out a skirt and top that matched, both had a solid black flowery design to it, you would swear it was a sandy grey colour until you realised that it was actually a pattern the whole way across both items.

"See, the skirt is separate so you can wear your shorts underneath and pull it off in case of an emergency and not be restricted by the top either" pointed out Erasa.

"Hmm, well, I suppose it'll have to do, just a shame about the colour" said Videl.

"Urgh, there's no pleasing you, is there Videl" shrugged Erasa.

"Nope" smiled Videl.

"Okay, now that the clothes have been decided, is there anything else I need to do" asked Videl.

"Yeah, now you need shoes" said Erasa.

"Well, that's easy, I only own like five pairs" replied Videl.

"Five! What do you mean ONLY five! Videl, I can wear five pairs a day if I really need to" said a surprised Erasa.

"What? I don't go out and dress up unless it's one of my dad's shindigs that I have to go to" replied Videl.

"Ok, I suppose that makes sense" said Erasa.

"Well, since there aren't many options, I suppose we'll need to go with these silver flats that you have here" said Erasa as she held up a pair of rather dull silver flat shoes.

"They're not really great for kicking but, I guess they'll have to do" said Videl.

"Sure" said Erasa.

"Ok, now that's out of the way, let's move on to hair and makeup" continued Erasa.

"Whoa, what do you mean hair and makeup, what's wrong with the way I look" asked Videl.

"Nothing, nothing at all but, if you're dressing up to try and impress Gohan, you may as well go the extra mile and do your hair and makeup too" said Erasa with a sly smile.

"Wha-? No! I'm not trying to impress him, I-I just think it would be polite to look nice when his mom invited me to dinner, that's all" said Videl.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that. Now, I was thinking, let's get rid of the pigtails here and brush your hair and straighten it out, just let it flow naturally" said Erasa.

"O-Ok" said Videl nervously, she was entrusting Erasa to do something to her hair but, Videl never really changed her hair style, not since she was about ten and she was just a bit worried about what Erasa would do.

After some time with the hair brush and a pair of straighteners that Videl hadn't used in some years, her hair was now all straightened out and freely flowing down her back, where it reached about half way.

"Ok, just one last thing to do" said Erasa, as she placed a headband on top of Videls head, "There ya go".

"Wow, thanks Erasa, I was worried for a bit there about how I would look but, you've done a really great job" said Videl.

"Aww, don't thank me yet, we've still got make up to do" replied Erasa.

"Ok, what exactly were you thinking" asked Videl.

"Nothing fancy, just a bit of foundation and maybe some eye shadow, but only subtle amounts, nothing too over the top" said Erasa.

"Ok, sure, I can always wash it off, right?" asked Videl.

"Of course." replied Erasa. The blonde-haired girl then started to apply the makeup and was careful to not overdue it, all the while, Videl kept her eyes closed to let her friend do her work.

"Ok, you can open your eyes now" said Erasa.

Videl opened her eyes and stared in to the mirror to see someone she had never seen before. It was her but, not like anything she had seen before, sure, sometimes she wore a dress to some of those formal parties her father would throw but, never had she gone to such lengths to get dressed up.

Videl could not quite believe what she was looking at and continued to stare, mouth agape at what was now before her.

"Well, aren't you going to say something? I don't think you've ever been lost for words before" smiled Erasa.

"Thank you Erasa" said Videl as she turned to her friend with a smile beaming across her face, "I couldn't quite believe that was me I was looking at in the mirror".

"I do good work, now, it's just after five thirty, is there anything else you want to go over before you head over to Gohan's?" asked Erasa.

"Hmm, do you think I should take any sort of gift with me? After all, it is customary to bring gifts when you're being invited to dinner" said Videl.

"True but, I don't know what you could take. Maybe you should just take a bottle of wine from your dad's cellar" Erasa suggested.

"Yeah, that could work, he's got that many, I'm sure he won't miss just one" said Videl.

"Ok then, it's settled, you're all dressed up and ready to go, just stop by the wine cellar and pick up a bottle and then head over to Gohan's" said Erasa.

"Right" replied Videl.

The two girls then made their way down to the wine cellar, only to find it locked. Apparently, Videls father didn't trust anyone enough with his wine cellar. Videl went around the staff to find out who had a key to the cellar. Eventually she found the maid who would not give her the key but, after explaining why she needed a bottle of wine, the maid offered to go and get her a bottle. Videl did not have to wait long as the maid had returned but only a few minutes later with a nice bottle of pinot gris. With the gift secured, the girls hopped in to Videl's jet-copter where Videl proceeded to drop off Erasa before she then headed off to the 439-mountain area.

* * *

After a short walk, Gohan had reached the river but could not see any sign of Goten.

"Goten! Where are you?" shouted Gohan but heard no response.

He looked up and down the river but could only see the free-flowing river, the big boulders that separated the waters, like a path across the river, the fields of grass surrounding the river and the luscious green trees that covered the approach to the river.

After looking for a minute, he noticed some bubbles coming from the river, when suddenly, a huge fish, no, several huge fish came flying out of the river, followed by a young boy with black, spiky hair.

"Goten! There you are" shouted Gohan.

"Gohan!" shouted back Goten as he swam back to the shore.

"I thought you had gotten lost little brother" said Gohan as his younger brother had just reached the shore.

"Nah, I was just getting the fish for mom but then I saw lots and lots of them so I decided to swim for a while before I remember why mom had sent me here in the first place, hehe" replied the younger Saiyan.

"Well, I'm glad you remember, I'll carry those fish for you and you get your clothes back on and we'll head home ok" said the older Saiyan.

"Ok, sure" replied Goten.

The two brothers made their way back home, with fish in hand. They arrived at their front door and trotted in to the kitchen, where they presented Goten's catch of the day to their mother.

"Oh wonderful, just put it on the table and I'll deal with them in a minute. Gohan, I want you to cut and clean the vegetables for me, Goten, I want you to go set up the table in the front room for me ok" said Chichi.

"Okay mom" said both of her boys in unison.

The table was promptly set and the vegetables were cut and cleaned. Gohan had to go and help Goten set the table as he had put all the utensils in the wrong order however.

Once that was all done, Gohan then had to keep an eye on the rice and help to make the sushi rolls, whilst Chichi was cooking more fish. Chichi let Goten go play in his room as there wasn't going to be much more need for his services for the evening.

* * *

It was a little after six thirty and most of the food had been prepared. Chichi had ordered Goten to go get cleaned up first (as he would be the most trouble) and told him that there was to be no sparring with Trunks this evening due to their guest arriving who was not a Saiyan and wouldn't understand. Goten grudgingly agreed and went to get cleaned up.

Once Gohan had finished, Chichi then ordered him to get cleaned up as well and told him to put on a nice shirt and a clean pair of trousers, rather than the jeans and t-shirt he was still wearing. Gohan was in the middle of getting changed when he heard a knock at the front door. Chichi went to answer the door.

"Hi Chichi" said Videl who had arrived about fifteen minutes early, "I hope I'm not too early".

' _Wow, she looks a lot different than when I met her earlier today, she must be trying really hard to impress'_ thought Chichi.

"Not at all dear, come right in, you're the first guest to arrive. Gohan is still getting ready but if you want, you can keep me company in the kitchen until he's ready" said Chichi.

Gohan could hear Videls voice and realised just how bad it was to leave his mother with Videl, who knows just how much nonsense his mother would say to Videl, especially about marriage and kids. He tried to get ready as quickly as he could but Goten was still hogging the bathroom so he had to wait a bit longer.

"Thanks for inviting me Chichi" said Videl as she followed the older woman to the kitchen.

"Not at all dear, it's always nice to get to know Gohan's friends. Is that a bottle of wine you're carrying?" enquired Chichi.

"Oh, yes, sorry, here, it's customary to bring a gift when you're invited for dinner" replied Videl.

"Why thank you, I'm sure Bulma will like this" said Chichi.

"Bulma?" said Videl quizzically, "You mean, like, Bulma Briefs?".

"Uh-huh, that's the one" replied Chichi.

' _What? How do they know Bulma Briefs? She's only like the most famous woman on the planet and they're having her over for a casual dinner party! He's definitely keeping secrets, especially if they're as big as knowing Bulma Briefs'_ thought Videl.

"Wow! How do you know Bulma Briefs?" asked Videl.

"Well, Bulma and my husband, Gohan's father, have known each other since they were young" replied Chichi.

"Really! That's amazing! And to think, Gohan didn't even mention this" said Videl.

"We don't really go around telling people, we like to keep away from all that publicity and media" said Chichi.

"Speaking of which, you must get some amount of hassle, what with people knowing who you are and who your father is" said Chichi.

"Yeah, it can be troublesome sometimes, but they're mostly interested in my dad so thankfully they don't get in my way too much" replied Videl.

"Well, I'm glad to hear it. Now, where is that son of mine? GOHAN! Get your butt down here NOW!" shouted Chichi.

"S-Sorry mom, Goten was hogging all the hot water in the bathroom" came a reply from upstairs.

"I don't care, just get your butt in gear and hurry up" yelled back Chichi.

"Ok!" replied the young Saiyan.

As the conversation was going on between Gohan and his mother, Goten came toddling down the stairs and in to the kitchen.

"Oh, hi Videl" said Goten, smiling at the young girl standing in the kitchen.

"Hi Goten, it's nice to see you again" replied Videl.

"Hehe, Videl, do you wanna come play with me until dinner is ready" asked Goten.

"Sure, sounds like fun" said Videl.

Videl accompanied the younger Saiyan in to the front room whilst she waited for Gohan. The two played with Goten's action figures for a while, Goten of course, playing the hero whilst Videl was left to play the bad guy.

Eventually, Gohan came down the stairs all dressed up. Nothing too fancy of course, just a light blue shirt, a pair of black trousers and some clean shoes. He made his way downstairs and in to the kitchen.

"Ok mom, I'm ready" he said.

"Good, go and take the kitchen table in to the front room and get the spare table and set it up next to that so that we can all fit around it, ok sweetie" said Chichi.

"Sure, ok mom" he replied.

Gohan then cleared the bowl of fruit from the centre of the table and placed it on a counter. He then folded up the table legs and picked it up by the side with just one hand and made his way to the front room.

In the front room, Videl and Goten were still playing with Goten's action figures when Gohan walked in to the room carrying the table in one hand.

"Oh, hey Gohan" said Videl.

"V-Videl, hi, when did you get here?" he asked, although he was surprised why he asked, he had already heard Videl and Chichi talking earlier.

"Not long, about five or ten minutes ago" she replied. Videl then caught sight of Gohan holding the table.

' _What? How? That thing must weigh a tonne, how is he holding it like a book?'_

"Hey Gohan, isn't that table a little heavy to be carrying it like that?" she asked.

"Uh, what this thing, nah, it's a lot lighter than it looks" Gohan said panicking.

"Sure" replied Videl.

Nervously, Gohan ushered Goten out of the way and set up the table, before proceeding to move the sofa out of the way, again, doing so with relative ease and again, with only one hand.

"Gohan" said Videl.

"Yeah, what's up" he replied.

"Isn't that sofa quite heavy as well?" she asked, this time with a sterner tone, realising that something wasn't quite right as she'd have needed both hands to pick up either that table or the sofa due to their large sizes.

"I-It's deceptively light, hehe" he said, still panicking. She was starting to become suspicious, he would have to be extra careful tonight.

"Whatever" was her reply.

"Gohan, once you're finished, could you start setting up the chairs and cutlery please" came Chichi's voice from the kitchen.

"Sure thing mom" he replied.

"Let me help you Gohan" said Videl.

"Uh, no that's ok, you're a guest here" said Gohan.

"Why? What's wrong? Am I not good enough to help?" scowled Videl.

"N-No, it's not that, it's just, you're our guest and, it would be impolite to ask our guests to help out" he replied.

"Well tough luck mister, you're getting my help whether you like it or not" she replied.

"Ok, if you're sure. I'll go get the cutlery and you can help me set it out" replied Gohan.

He went to the kitchen to get the cutlery, whilst Chichi continued to prepare food. He soon returned with plates, knives, forks and napkins.

"Could you set the table for me please Videl while I go get the extra chairs?" he asked Videl.

"Sure" she replied.

"Hey Goten, come help me get some of the extra chairs, would ya?" he asked his brother.

"Sure thing" replied Goten, happy to help out.

Videl began to set the table and Gohan and Goten went to get the extra chairs. After a few minutes, the places were set and the chairs were placed around the table just as there was a knock at the door.

"Gohan, would you get that please?" asked his mother.

"Ok mom" replied Gohan as he went to the door.

He opened the door and was immediately pounced on by a small child. This of course, was Trunks, the lavender haired boy who was Goten's best friend and son of Bulma and Vegeta, who were standing at the front door.

"Gohan!" shouted Trunks.

"Hey Trunks! Hey Bulma, Vegeta" he said as he looked up from Trunks.

"Hey Gohan" replied Bulma. Vegeta just stared at Gohan.

"Trunks!" Came another, younger voice as Goten bounced out of the front room.

"Hey Goten" replied Trunks.

"Do you wanna go play in my room until dinner's ready?" asked the youngest Saiyan.

"Sure, it beats hanging out with the grown-ups" said Trunks as the two ran off upstairs to Goten's room.

"Can I take your coat Bulma?" asked Gohan.

"Why thank you Gohan" replied Bulma as she removed her jacket and gave it to Gohan as she and Vegeta made their way in to the home.

As they walked in, Bulma glanced in to the front room and seen someone that she had never met before. She decided to introduce herself as Videl had now just caught site of her.

"Hey there, I'm Bulma" she said as she extended her arm to greet this new person.

"Oh, h-hi, I'm Videl" she replied, slightly nervous, as this was the first time she was meeting the richest and most famous person on the planet, next maybe to her own father.

"Are you a friend of Gohan's?" asked Bulma.

"Yes, we go to school together. Chichi invited me here" replied Videl.

' _Of course she did, anything to get her precious baby to be married and have children'_ thought Bulma.

As they were introducing themselves, Vegeta was standing behind Bulma as Gohan was walking back in to the room.

"So, Kakarot's son has a mate, about time" said Vegeta.

Videl had a puzzled look on her face, trying to figure out what Vegeta meant by this, and who Kakarot was. Gohan on the other hand, was panicking and now, slightly embarrassed.

"What! No, it's not like that Vegeta, she's just my friend, that's it" he quickly corrected the Saiyan Prince.

"Oh really, is that right. Ha, just watching you squirm might make this night enjoyable" laughed Vegeta, as he went off to the kitchen to start demanding some food.

"Ugh, you'll have to forgive my husband, he's a…bit of an eccentric type" said Bulma to Videl.

"That's ok, I'm sure it'll be fine" said Videl, still a little embarrassed herself after Vegeta's comment.

Another knock at the door was heard and Gohan went to answer it. This time, when he answered the door, he was met with Krillin, 18 and Marron.

"Hey there, mind if we come in" said Krillin.

"Of course, welcome" said Gohan, as he ushered the three of them in the door.

"It's been too long, how have you been Gohan" asked Krillin.

"I'm doing great, thanks for asking. It's nice to see you too 18, and Marron too" said Gohan as he looked down at Marron, "Trunks and Goten are in Goten's room if you're looking for them".

"Yaaaaay" screamed Marron as she ran off in the direction of Goten's room.

Gohan took their coats and went to hang them up as Krillin and 18 made their way to the front room.

"Hey Bulma, how ya doing, oh Videl, you're here, nice to see you again" said Krillin as they entered the room.

"Oh hey, it's nice to meet you again" replied Videl.

"You know each other" asked Bulma.

"Yeah, we met today when we were at the mall and Gohan and Videl here were with their friends" replied Krillin.

"Well that makes sense" said Bulma.

Videl introduced herself to 18 and the small group who had congregated in the front room as each of them took a seat and continued with small talk. Vegeta had opted to go out the back door and stared off in to the sky, waiting for the food to be ready.

Chichi began to put the food out on the table and had Gohan help her to do this before calling out;

"Food's ready" to the whole house.

Footsteps could be heard as three kids were all racing and scrambling down the stairs, whilst Vegeta walked in from the back door.

"Wow Chichi, that sure is a lot of food" asked Videl.

"It's probably not ENOUGH food for this lot" said Bulma.

"Huh? Why do you say that?" asked Videl.

"Well, this lot here (pointing at Vegeta, Gohan, Goten and Trunks), have the biggest appetites you'll ever see, heck, given the right circumstances, I'd dare say that it would only take one of them to finish everything on the table" said Bulma.

"Are you kidding me!" exclaimed Videl.

"Just watch and you'll see" replied Bulma.

All the food was finally placed on the table, Chichi sat down before the whole table gave thanks for their food and began to chow down.

Of course, the Saiyans started by shovelling food in to their mouths by the hand full. Videl had begun to eat but was then taken aback by the sight of the Saiyans eating. Gohan, thankfully had noticed this and started eating at a slightly slower pace so as to try and keep Videls attention away from the others and their habits.

* * *

Eventually, Trunks and Goten were finished eating and asked to be excused. They ran outside to play for a while, whilst Marron sat with 18. After a short while, everyone was finished and Bulma and Chichi cleared the table and Gohan moved the furniture back to where it all was.

Whilst this was all going on, Krillin decided to engage Videl in some conversation;

"So Videl, I hear your father is Mr Satan, is that true?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's right" she replied.

"It must be hard having to deal with all that publicity he brings with him" said Krillin.

"It's not actually too bad, the media aren't really interested in me as much as they are my dad so, I've never really dealt with that problem" replied Videl.

"I guess that's not so bad, I remember meeting your dad once during the Cell games ya know" said Krillin.

Gohan had heard what Krillin said and quickly made his way back in to the room to cut off his friend before he said too much;

"Hey Videl, I heard you guys talking about the media and stuff, why don't you ask Krillin about his time in the World Martial Arts Tournament" ' _Nice one Gohan, you've steered clear of that one'._

"Oh yeah, that's right, I heard you used to take part in the World Martial Arts Tournament" said Videl excitedly.

"Eh-he, yeah, I sure did, there used to be a bunch of us that all entered, I did quite well, considering who I was up against" said Krillin.

"Why? Who were you up against?" asked Videl.

"Well, I remember losing to Jackie Chun in the semi-finals of the first tournament, then I lost to Goku, Gohan's dad, in the second tournament, also in the semi-finals, then I lost in the quarter-finals of the last tournament to our friend Piccolo, who you haven't met yet" replied Krillin.

"Wow, you must have been quite something back in the day then huh" said Videl.

"Yep, then of course, came the Cell games and it kinda all went away after that, but I did of course meet my beautiful wife at that time and we've been happy ever since, right babe" said Krillin as he turned to 18 with a big smile on his face.

"Of course, babe" replied 18.

"Ha, you call them opponents, they're nothing, only the Namekian would even stand a chance from those weaklings" piped up Vegeta.

"Well, I mean, c'mon Vegeta, of course they're weaklings to you" replied Krillin.

"Um, what's a Namekian?" asked Videl.

Only then did Gohan realise that Vegeta had said too much and had to try and steer the conversation away;

"I-It's just an expression we use when we're describing our friend, Piccolo, it's kinda an inside joke, yeah, see and, nobody but us would really get it, hehe" replied Gohan, nervously.

"O-Ok, sure, do you mind if I use your rest room" asked Videl.

"Sure" replied Gohan as he directed Videl to where the bathroom was. He returned moments later to the front room;

"Guys, you've gotta keep a tight lid on things like that, she doesn't know and we can't risk her knowing things that will bring attention to us" pleaded Gohan.

"I won't take orders from a child, I will say what I want, when I want and nobody, especially not a brat of Kakarot's, is going to tell me what to do" scowled Vegeta.

As the conversation went on, Videl had finished in the bathroom. She had just exited from the room and had seen the door opposite her was open. She looked around and seen that nobody was there and peered inside the door. Inside the room she could see a bed, desk and school books, a book case and some pictures and photos. Having spent time with Goten and his action figures, and deciding that this was not a woman's room, she concluded that this must be Gohan's room.

Videl quietly stepped in to the room and began to look around. She scanned over the books, thinking just how much of a book worm Gohan must be. She then caught sight of a few more photos, mostly of his family. On the book case, she then scanned around it, until on one of the higher shelves, she caught site of a weird glass sphere. It was orange in colour and it appeared to have something inside it but, as it was on a higher shelf, she couldn't quite see what was in it. Videl decided that she had been in there long enough that it might start to draw some suspicion about her absence, so she decided to head back downstairs and that she'd ask Gohan about it later.

As Videl descended the stairs, Vegeta was just leaving via the front door. 18 had went through to the kitchen to join Bulma and Chichi and Krillin and Gohan were talking.

Upon entering the front room, Krillin turned to Videl and asked;

"Hey Videl, we're just heading outside for a while, Trunks and Goten are sparring and we're gonna go watch them, do you wanna join us?".

"Sure, sounds like fun, do you mind if I have a word with Gohan first though" she asked.

"Ok, we'll just be out the front when you wanna join us" he replied.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do bro" whispered Krillin to Gohan before leaving.

"Stop that Krillin, that's not how it is" said Gohan, his face red with embarrassment.

Videl too, had gone slightly red with embarrassment. After Krillin left, Gohan motioned for her to sit down;

"So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" asked Gohan.

"Well, there's a few things actually" she replied.

"Ok, shoot" he said.

"Well, that guy, Vegeta was it? He referred to you as Kakarot's brat, who is Kakarot?" she asked.

"Oh…that…well, my dad and Vegeta came from the same…place, Vegeta knows my dad's actual name but, when my dad arrived here, he was just a baby and had no parents. He was raised by his adoptive grandfather Gohan, which is where I got my name from, and he named my father Goku, which is what everyone else knows him as but, Vegeta refuses to call him by anything other than his birth name." explained Gohan.

"That's…confusing" replied Videl.

"Yeah, but that's the story, hehe" said Gohan.

"Okay then, what about this "Namekian" that Vegeta referred to. He was talking about your friend Piccolo, why does he do that?" she asked.

"Th-That? Yeah, Piccolo isn't from around here, he's…from somewhere called Namek and that's just how Vegeta refers to him" replied Gohan.

"Vegeta doesn't sound very friendly, why do you take his crap" asked Videl.

"Well, you see, Vegeta is a very proud person, he was born in to royalty but, …some things happened and, well, he's not exactly royalty anymore, but he still sees himself as royalty and feels like everyone else is beneath him, so, that's why he's like that" replied Gohan.

"Oh, I see, a guy with a bit of a God complex" said Videl.

"In a manner of speaking I suppose" said Gohan.

"Ok, so, where exactly is this Namek then? I've never heard of it!" asked Videl.

"To be honest, I'm not really sure myself, all I know, is that it's far away" said Gohan sheepishly.

' _Hmmm, he seems shifty, there's something he's not telling me about this Namek'_ thought Videl.

"Fair enough, so I'm sure Krillin said that Trunks and Goten were gonna spar? You mean those kids are gonna go a few rounds?" asked Videl.

"What? Oh, yeah, sure, they love to play when they're together" said Gohan nervously.

' _Wait, I thought I said to mom about them sparring and that she'd have a talk with Goten, oh no!'_ thought Gohan, his mind racing trying to think of some way to not let Videl see them.

However, it was already too late, Videl had caught a glimpse of something through the window and moved towards it to see two kids…fighting? They were moving so fast, it didn't look like sparring to Videl, it looked like a full-on battle, but, she had never seen anyone, let alone kids, move like this. One second they were in one spot and the next, they'd be twenty feet away, still duking it out.

"W-Wh-What the…?" gaped Videl in shock.

' _Oh great, she's seen them, now what do I do, I don't think I'll be able to explain this one'_ thought Gohan.

"G-G-Gohan…what…what in the world…how are they doing that? There's just no way! It's not possible!" cried Videl, as she turned to Gohan, looking for an answer.

"I…er…I, don't know what to tell you Videl" replied Gohan.

Videl then walked to the front door and walked outside to get a better look at the battle between kids. Vegeta glanced round to see Videl standing there in utter shock at the sight before her, as he leaned against the wall of the house. Krillin too had seen Videl and had turned to speak to her;

"Hey, you're here, isn't this great, watching them go at it like this, this takes me back years to when I was fighting Goku" said Krillin.

"What are you talking about? Aren't you the least bit surprised at how they're doing that" asked Videl curiously.

"What do you mean? Of course not, they're Goku and Vegeta's kids and, even though they're young, I'd say they're some of the strongest fighters on the planet" replied Krillin.

Videl couldn't believe what she was hearing and seeing, what were they? They couldn't be human surely, not when in the blink of an eye they had moved so far and…were they flying? Videl was certain that they had to be at least six feet in the air, too long for them to have jumped, even six feet in the air would have been a miracle for kids but flying? This was too much for Videl to take in.

Gohan had sighed and looked defeated for a minute as he was trying to figure out what to tell Videl once he had caught up to her. Chichi walked back in to the room to see Gohan just standing there looking at the ceiling;

"Gohan, what on Earth are you doing just standing there?" asked his mother.

"Huh? Oh, well, I think we might have a problem, Videl caught sight of Goten and Trunks sparring out front and she went out to watch and, well, she's confused to see kids moving the way that those two are" explained Gohan.

"Oh dear, well, you might have to tell her the truth Gohan but, if you can find a way to somehow explain this to her, I'd try that first, now, go find her and talk to her" said Chichi.

"Right" replied Gohan.

Gohan then made his way out the front door, only to see that Videl had just took off running towards the forest. He shouted after her;

"Videl!"


	6. Chapter 6

Videl was almost certain that these people weren't human, watching these kids was starting to make her a little bit scared, if they could do this, what could the adults do? For some reason, Videl then took off in the direction of the forest, her heart rate had started to increase, she could feel it beating in her chest, she wasn't sure why she had taken off, her feet just went and the rest of her body followed. The flat shoes that Videl was wearing were flapping about so much that they had fallen off very early in to her stride but she was no longer concerned about that, she was only worried about why she had taken off and what she was going to do next.

"Videl!" came a shout from behind her.

She recognised the voice as Gohan's but she couldn't turn around to see him, her feet kept moving and she wasn't sure what to do if she did turn around so she kept going.

"Krillin, what happened? What did you say to her?" asked Gohan.

"Nothing, I just said that they're Goku and Vegeta's kids and that they're probably some of the strongest fighters on the planet. She seemed confused about why we thought that the kids sparring was normal" replied Krillin.

"Nooo, Krillin, she doesn't know about us being Saiyans and super strong and, ya know, not of this world" said Gohan.

"Er, really, I thought you would have at least warned her about Vegeta" said Krillin.

"What was that?" yelled Vegeta.

"Don't take it personally Vegeta, I just mean that, you go on about being the Saiyan Prince a lot that I thought Gohan here would have had the sense to fill her in about all of this stuff" replied Krillin.

Vegeta just glared at him, followed by a grunt before he turned his attention back to the kids sparring. Trunks, as usual, was getting the upper hand on Goten, which pleased Vegeta, even if he didn't tell his son.

"Awww dang, now I need to go look for her" said Gohan.

"Do you want some help looking for her?" asked Krillin.

"No, it's okay, if we all go looking for her, she might feel like we're hunting her or something, if I go alone then at least she'll talk to me…I hope" said Gohan.

"Ok but, if you need any help, you know the drill, raise that power level and we'll be right there" said Krillin.

"Sure, I'll try not to be too long" replied Gohan.

Gohan then turned in the direction that Videl had went and gave chase, it shouldn't take him too long to catch up, what with being a Saiyan and all.

* * *

Eventually, Videl came to a clearing with a lake. She stopped to catch her breath before reflecting on what she had just witnessed;

"Ok Videl, just calm down, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for two kids, flying around and fighting and doing so with incredible speed and power. Yeah, sure there is, it's because they're not human, that's what it is, nobody is capable of that" she said to herself.

"Why did I run, I watched them and then, I just ran, ugh, I'm such an idiot running off like that, I bet he's just back there laughing at me" she continued.

"Actually, now I think about it, if Trunks and Goten were doing that, can…can Gohan do that too? Can all of them" she finished.

Videl would have continued mumbling away to herself but she was interrupted when she could hear movement from the bushes nearby. She thought it might have been Gohan chasing after her so she turned towards the bush;

"Gohan, is that you?" she asked.

The rustling of the bushes continued and eventually, out stepped, not Gohan but a wolf. Videl was taken aback for a moment before she collected her thoughts;

"A wolf? Ok, it's just one Videl, you can take it" she said to herself.

No sooner had she said that when another one stepped out from behind the first one, and after that, another one, and another one and then another one, eventually, she found herself surrounded by about eight wolves, a pack had descended upon her.

Now Videl was starting to panic, one she could take, two perhaps at a push, but eight, she was definitely in trouble now and she knew it, even with the odds against her, she put her guard up and slowly edged backwards, desperately trying to think of a way out of her situation.

Whilst she was edging away from the pack, who were creeping forward at the same time, Videl found her back against the lake. She pondered for a moment about jumping in and swimming away but had decided against it as the lake didn't go anywhere and the pack of wolves could simply run around it, by which time, Videl would be weighed down by her wet clothes and would be very cold at the same time. No, it seemed like her only option would be to try and fight this pack of wolves.

Eventually, after what seemed like a lengthy and tense standoff, one of the wolves pounced at her which caught Videl off guard as it was not in her direct line of sight. Time seemed to slow down at that moment for Videl, she had always had pride in her ability to rise to a challenge and take on anything, regardless of the odds, and now, the odds were stacked against her and she felt like this might be one time that she wouldn't be able to rise to the occasion.

As the Wolf got closer to her, within mere inches of her arm, which she had raised to try and defend the attack, the wolf suddenly disappeared but instead, she could see this arm, at least, that's what she thought she had seen, for as quickly as it appeared, it had now disappeared and as she looked around, the wolves were suddenly disappearing one by one. In actual fact, they weren't disappearing, but were suddenly several feet further away than they had been and appeared to be unconscious.

She looked around, trying to figure out what happened when she noticed a tall figure, standing in the shadows underneath one of the trees.

"H-Hello" she called out.

The figure, then moved out from the trees and in to the light where Videl could now see a white cloak and white hat in the style of a turban and, green skin? Videl was certain she knew who this was;

"Hey, I know you! You're Gohan's friend, Piccolo, right?" asked Videl.

"Yeah, that's right, so, you know Gohan then?" asked Piccolo.

"Yeah, I go to school with him, actually, I was over at his home for a dinner party that Chichi was throwing" replied Videl.

"Ok, so why are you out here if the party is at his house" questioned a stern looking Piccolo.

"Well, I…I guess I got frightened at what I had seen" replied Videl.

"And what exactly did you see?" Piccolo questioned her further.

"Well, Trunks and Goten went to spar out the front and, by the time I got there, they were flying and moving at speeds that no human could move at" she answered.

"Ok, I think I know the problem, Gohan hasn't told you anything has he?" asked Piccolo.

"About what?" asked Videl.

"Hmmm, I probably shouldn't be the one to tell you but, I don't suppose you'll drop this if I don't tell you, now will you?" asked Piccolo.

"No, I'll not stop until Gohan tells me what exactly is going on around here" replied Videl, with a now more serious look across her face.

"Ok then, let's go back to Gohan's house, where he can explain everything to you" said Piccolo.

"O-Ok" replied Videl.

Piccolo walked with Videl back to Gohan's home to make sure she got there safe, he wouldn't want to tell Gohan that something bad had happened under his watch, those Saiyans can have a bad temper when they're angry you know.

* * *

Gohan had ran in to the forest trying to catch up with Videl, he had only caught sight of which direction in to the forest she had ran, but after that, he wasn't sure which way to go. He decided not to fly as that might only add to his problems right now, so he went in the direction he thought she would have chosen. This turned out to be the wrong way.

He had been running for about ten minutes, finding only either cliff faces or more trees, but no sign of Videl. Eventually he found the river, he knew where this was from his home and was sure that Videl couldn't possibly have outrun him and gotten this far, after all, this was much further downstream. He chose to run upstream for a bit, just in the off chance she had gotten to the river.

After another five minutes of running, he was still no closer to finding her, he decided to start trying different directions and hope he would find some clue as to where she went. It took another 15 minutes to double-back in the other direction, eventually, coming to a clearing where he found…wolves? Not only did he find a pack of wolves but, they all seemed to be unconscious, which was very weird. He wondered who exactly would be capable of such a thing.

Just as Gohan began to scout the area some more, he picked up a faint energy, one that he recognised.

"Piccolo!" he exclaimed.

"Of course, that would explain the wolves but, why would Piccolo have done something like that unless…it was to protect Videl!" he continued.

With that, Gohan ran in the direction he could feel Piccolo's energy coming from, hoping that everything was alright and that no harm had come to Videl.

* * *

Piccolo and Videl had arrived back at Gohan's, where Vegeta, Trunks, Goten and Krillin were still outside, except, now Chichi was standing outside too, with Bulma, 18 and Marron as Chichi and Bulma were giving the four boys a scalding about using their powers when they had outside guests around.

Vegeta, Krillin, Trunks and Goten all looked up and turned around when they noticed an energy that they recognised and realised that it was Piccolo.

"Piccolo? What are you doing here?" asked Krillin.

"Well, I found a young lady here who had run off because of a sparring match I believe" replied Piccolo.

"SEE, WHAT DID I TELL YOU! DON'T YOU EVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN, DO YOU HEAR ME!" shouted Chichi at Krillin.

"Hey, cut it out, it's not my fault that Trunks and Goten started sparring, besides, how was I to know?" asked Krillin.

"Videl dear, are you alright" asked Chichi as Piccolo and Videl had joined the party outside.

"Well, I'm a bit calmer now but, I'm just, so confused about, well, whatever this is" replied Videl, as she waved in the direction of Trunks and Goten.

"I suppose we'll need to explain things to you then, c'mon, everyone back inside for some coffee and hot chocolate, this might take a while" announced Chichi to the group.

They all walked back inside and in to the kitchen, where Chichi offered Videl a seat as she began making coffee and hot chocolate, whilst Bulma and 18 each took a seat and Marron sat on 18's lap. Trunks and Goten stood in the doorway, whilst Vegeta leaned against a wall, his eyes closed, as if he was resting and Piccolo stood looking out the window and listened in to the conversation. Krillin stood next to his wife, 18 and remained quiet as well;

"So Videl, you're probably wondering just what exactly goes on around here" said Chichi.

"Well, yeah, I mean, watching Trunks and Goten like that, that can't be right surely" replied Videl.

"'Sigh', Well, sorry to say but what you seen the boys do out there is completely real, no tricks, they were really flying about and punching and kicking at immense speeds" said Chichi.

"Huh, what? No, I don't believe it" replied Videl.

"It's true" said Piccolo, "It's probably better if we start from the beginning so that you get an idea of just how real this all is" he finished as he turned around to face the rest of the group.

"You see Videl, not everyone in the room is…human" said Bulma.

"W-W-What!" screeched Videl.

"Don't panic, you're perfectly safe here" said Bulma.

"Now, if you hadn't already guessed which ones here are aliens, then I'd refer you to the big green man in the room for a start" said Chichi.

"Grrr" came a growl from Piccolo.

"Sorry Piccolo but, you're just the most obvious choice" said Chichi.

"Just, get on with it" replied Piccolo.

"You see, he's from the planet Namek, which is why he's got green skin" said Bulma.

"O-ok, I guess that also explains why Vegeta refers to him as the Namek then?" asked Videl.

"Wow, you're a bright one, aren't you" said Vegeta patronisingly.

"Can it Vegeta" snapped Bulma.

Vegeta took one look at Bulma and decided he didn't care enough to make an argument out of this and just shut his eyes again and leaned there.

"To answer your question Videl, yes, that's why Vegeta calls him that" said Bulma.

"Ok but, and I can't believe I'm actually asking this, but why are they even here in the first place" she asked.

"I'll answer that," piped up Vegeta, "the mighty Saiyan race were once the most feared warriors in the galaxy. We used to work as mercenaries where we went from planet to planet, wiping out it's populous and selling them on to the highest bidder. Kakarot was sent to Earth when he was but a baby, however, he lost his way once he arrived here and instead of destroying everything, became one of them." monologued Vegeta as he stared off in to space for moment.

"Ooook, so, why did you come here?" asked Videl.

Vegeta then looked back at the girl and continued;

"Eventually, we sent Kakarot's brother, Raditz, here to find out what happened and why he hadn't conquered the Earth yet but when he got here, he couldn't convince him to do his job and ended up kidnapping Gohan before that weakling lost to both Kakarot and the Namek over there." said Vegeta as he pointed to Piccolo.

"Wait a minute, how do you even know that Gohan was kidnapped, you weren't here at the time" said Bulma.

"Remember those scouters we used to wear, that's how we even knew that Raditz had been defeated in the first place" replied Vegeta.

"Oh, right, yeah I forgot about those" said Bulma.

"Anyway, Kakarot died from the battle and went to Otherworld, where he trained for a year until I arrived to finish the job" said Vegeta.

"Wait! You mean to tell me that, you're a bad guy" Videl said with a sense of panic in her voice.

"It's okay Videl, he's not a bad guy anymore" said Bulma.

Videl accepted what Bulma said but didn't seem calmed by this.

"O-ok, so what happened then, obviously you didn't win if we're all still here" asked Videl.

"Tsk" winced Vegeta, as he folded his arms and turned away in disgust.

"He was defeated that day" said Krillin, "although it came with a heavy price, we lost Tien, Yamcha, Chiaotzu and even Piccolo that day" said Krillin.

"W-What! But, how can that be, he's standing right there" said Videl, referring to Piccolo.

"True but we brought him and the others back to life with the dragon balls" replied Krillin.

"Dragon…balls?" said Videl confusingly.

"Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know about them, would you" said Krillin.

"Maybe you'd be the best person to explain that one, Piccolo" said Chichi.

"Fine. Long ago, there used to be a terrible evil that plagued the world, known as the demon king" Piccolo started.

"Yeah, I've heard of this story" said Videl.

"Well, that demon king, his name was Piccolo" he continued.

"P-Piccolo?" said Videl, once again with a panicked look across her face.

"Yeah, let's just say that, we're connected in some way, but I don't want to take over the planet, if that's what you're thinking. Anyway, the demon king, Piccolo, used to actually be fused together with another Namekian, named Kami. Kami, was the guardian of Earth and watched over and protected the planet. When the previous guardian's time was almost up on Earth, Kami felt that he should be the one to replace him, however, the last guardian sensed the evil within him and would not allow him to be guardian. After intense meditation, Kami was able to cast aside his evil, and that's when the demon king, Piccolo was born." explained Piccolo.

"Ok, I think I understand" said Videl.

"As the guardian of Earth, Kami also had access to the dragon balls, seven orange balls, each with a different number of stars in them to represent each ball. Once all seven are brought together, they release the eternal dragon, Shenron, who will grant any wish. Once the wish has been granted, the seven dragon balls will scatter all across the Earth and have to be recollected again before Shenron can be summoned once more. Also, once Shenron has granted a wish, another wish cannot be granted for a whole year, so you won't find the dragon balls for a whole year once a wish has been made." said Piccolo.

"Ok, so you were able to bring your friends back to life with these dragon balls then. Hey, is that what's in the picture that's hanging there that Gohan drew?" asked Videl.

"Yeah, that's what they look like" said Bulma.

"I'll do one even better, wait right here" said Chichi as she left the room.

Whilst Chichi left the room, they continued the conversation.

"Ok this is all, very weird and interesting but, with the exception of Piccolo and Vegeta, I don't actually know who in this room is an alien" said Videl.

"Good point," said Bulma, "well, like you said, Piccolo and Vegeta are both aliens, as is Gohan's father Goku." finished Bulma.

"So that means, that Gohan, is an alien too" asked Videl.

"He's only a half breed, unlike his dim-witted father, who is a pure blooded Saiyan" snarled Vegeta.

"And what about you then?" Videl asked Vegeta.

"Not only am I a pure blooded Saiyan, but I am a Saiyan Elite, I am Prince Vegeta" said Vegeta, suddenly becoming prideful, once he was reminded of his Saiyan heritage.

"P-Prince, Vegeta" said a shocked Videl.

"Yes, Prince of all Saiyans, including these half breeds" he replied as he pointed towards Trunks and Goten.

"Ok, so I guess, you can all fly then?" asked Videl.

"Well, not everyone in the room can" said Bulma.

"Only us martial artists can fly, and my wife here of course, hehe" said Krillin.

"Wow, you can too" Videl then asked 18.

"Sure" she replied.

"So, what race are you then" Videl then asked Krillin.

"Huh? I'm just a regular human being" replied a confused Krillin.

"But, you can fly" said a now puzzled Videl.

"Well yeah, it's not just these planet hoppers who can fly, everyone is capable of flying, it just takes intense practice and training" replied Krillin.

"So, you mean, I could fly?" asked Videl.

"Perhaps, but you know what, I think I'll leave Gohan to teach you that" said Krillin.

"Here it is," said Chichi, "I had to go in to Gohan's room to find this".

Chichi had produced the four-star dragon ball.

"This used to be attached to a hat that Gohan wore when he was just a child" said Chichi.

Videl eyed it up and admired it, it's perfect spherical shape and how much it resembled the picture that Gohan had drawn.

"Goku's grandfather had this when Goku was just a kid, it's been in our family for years" said Chichi.

"Wow, that's amazing" said Videl.

Just then, the front door burst open and in came a confused looking Gohan.

* * *

Gohan had ran off in the direction Piccolo's energy was coming from, it was a bit faint but, not so much that it concerned him, it wasn't faint like there was a lack of it but rather, that it was just a distance away. As Gohan got closer and closer to the energy, he could feel others, ones that he recognised, Vegeta's, Krillin's, Goten's and Trunks's energies were all gathered. He realised that Piccolo must have made his way towards his house, most likely with Videl in tow.

He made it out of the forest and could see his house. He ran up towards the front door and swung it open and looked about inside, he could hear voices coming from the kitchen so he made his way there. Inside the kitchen, he found everyone sitting or standing around the table.

"There you are Gohan" said his mother.

"Sorry, I was out looking for Videl" he replied, as he noticed Videl sitting at the table.

"Ugh, Videl, are you alright" he asked.

"Yeah, I am now, I'm sorry I took off running earlier, I don't know what came over me" she replied with a sad look on her face.

"It's alright, the important thing is your safe" said Gohan.

"Awwww, would you look at that, he cares about his mate" cackled Vegeta.

Gohan and Videl both blushed with embarrassment.

"Hmph, it's more than can be said about the Saiyan Prince" retorted Bulma.

"Wha? How dare you!" said Vegeta.

"Don't how dare me, if you'd even shown that much interest then maybe I wouldn't have to be so curt with you" replied Bulma.

Krillin was trying to stifle a laugh but couldn't resist;

"Well, I guess we know who wears the pants in that family" laughed Krillin.

"Did you say something, baldy" growled Vegeta.

"Huh, oh no, no way, not me, didn't say a thing" Krillin said, panicking.

"Are you going to let him talk to you that way babe" said 18.

"Ugh, yeah, I mean, do you really think it would be a wise idea for me to annoy him, like, ever" replied Krillin.

"That's what I thought" said Vegeta.

"Oh, stop it now Vegeta, before I have Gohan kick your butt and put you in your place" said Chichi.

"Is that right," said Vegeta as he turned to Gohan with a smirk across his face, "what do you say Gohan, shall we go sparring a few rounds outside".

"Mom, what are you doing" whispered Gohan.

"C'mon now Vegeta, this is a dinner party, you shouldn't be fighting at a time like this" said Bulma.

"No, it's ok Bulma. Gohan, go get changed, then whoop his butt" said Chichi.

Gohan, reluctantly went upstairs to get changed;

' _What the hell just happened? And why am I being dragged in to this? And what did they tell Videl? Did they tell her anything, or perhaps, everything? I guess I'll need to find out later'_ thought Gohan.

Once Gohan had changed in to his Gi, he stepped outside, where the rest of the party had congregated.

"Ok, boy, let's get started," said Vegeta as he began to float in the air, "and don't worry, your little girlfriend already knows about everything".

"Really, they told you everything?" Gohan asked Videl, ignoring Vegeta's 'girlfriend' comment.

"Well, they explained a lot of things but, I think you'll be telling me the rest of it now, won't you Gohan" said Videl with a serious look on her face.

"Ugh, yeah, sure, I guess" replied Gohan.

"Quit stalling and get over here" shouted Vegeta.

"Alright, I'm coming" said Gohan, as he then took flight to match Vegeta's level.

Both their power levels raised up, but not to the point where either of them turned Super Saiyan. Vegeta took his stance, as did Gohan and they sized each other up for a moment, before Vegeta made the first move.


	7. Chapter 7

Vegeta lunged towards the teenager, swinging lefts and rights and throwing in some kicks as well. Gohan was dodging the shots quite well, but he realised very quickly that he was severely lacking in his training as each shot that Vegeta took was getting closer and closer to landing.

Videl was watching this and once again couldn't believe what she was seeing, but was also no longer running away, she was so intrigued with what she was watching and they seemed to be faster than both the boys were.

"What's wrong? Are you so soft now that you can't even throw a punch?" said Vegeta, trying to goad Gohan.

Gohan decided he wasn't going to let Vegeta get away with comments like that, so he chose to go on the offensive and started throwing his own lefts and rights. Vegeta was now blocking Gohan's attack but he didn't appear to be struggling as much as Gohan did, then again, constant training for seven years, nobody should be surprised.

Vegeta decided to go back on the offensive, only this time, he started landing hits, the first of which, was right to Gohan's stomach, followed by a left hook straight across his chin. This sent Gohan flying to the ground. Videl let out a gasp when she had seen Gohan take those hits but he had got right back up and went back to Vegeta. This time, Gohan went straight on, reeled his arm back readying a punch, whilst Vegeta prepared to block it and return with a shot of his own. Just as Gohan was within a few feet of Vegeta, he disappeared. Vegeta looked confused for a moment before realising that Gohan had gotten behind him, and as he turned around, Gohan punched him right in the face which sent the Saiyan Prince doing backflips before he was able to right himself.

"How, dare you, alright, that's it, I'm done playing" said Vegeta.

Vegeta then began to let out a growl and started to scream, not in anguish but more, feral and with anger. His hair began to turn a golden yellow, as did the aura around him until he stopped his screaming and his transformation in to a super Saiyan was complete.

Videl was in complete shock, this was something new;

"Wh-What is that? What did he…" asked Videl as her words trailed off.

Krillin turned to Videl and began to explain;

"That's what's called a super Saiyan, it's a transformation that multiplies their powers many times over and only they can do it, well Saiyans anyway, so that includes Trunks and Goten too".

"He looks…familiar, just like those guys who defeated Cel…wait…are you the group who defeated Cell all those years ago?" asked Videl.

"Well…yeah, sorry to burst your bubble if you thought your dad was the one to beat Cell" replied Krillin.

"To be honest, I never really believed he was the one to do it but, there also wasn't any way to doubt him, he is the strongest man in the world…or…at least I thought he was...until I seen this anyway" said Videl.

"Do you want to know something else" said Krillin. Videl nodded.

"Gohan was the one to actually defeat Cell once and for all" he said.

Videl's mouth was wide open now at utter shock, how could Gohan, of all people, be the one who managed to defeat Cell all those years ago, it just didn't seem like it was possible. That was, until she had seen Gohan this evening, now he seemed like a completely different person now that she knew all this stuff about his family and friends, but she would rather that it had come from him so she still wanted to speak to him about it but, right now, he had his hands full.

Meanwhile, back to the "sparring" match in the air, Gohan had decided to throw his power level up, bellowed a scream of his own and went super Saiyan as well.

"Hmph, really, you call yourself a Saiyan, you really have gotten soft after all these years Gohan" said Vegeta.

"Oh yeah, well wait until you've had a taste of this" replied Gohan.

He then clasped his hands together before he began;

"KA-"

"What! How dare you! Well, two can play at this game" replied Vegeta.

"ME-"

"FINAL!"

"HA-"

"EVERYONE! GET INSIDE! NOW!" Yelled Piccolo.

Everyone ran back in to the house, only to then all press themselves up against the windows and watch in amazement and surprise at just how quickly things had escalated.

"ME-"

"FLASH!"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

A bright blue beam of energy shot out from Gohan's hands, as did a bright yellow beam of energy shoot out from Vegeta's. The two beams collided and crashed against each other, with huge sounds, like thunder, coming from the impact both beams were having on the other. It looked like a stalemate for a while as neither Saiyan was willing to give up, with Gohan eventually kicking it up to super Saiyan 2 and Vegeta, to avoid getting creamed by Gohan's Kamehameha, also threw it in to super Saiyan 2.

Again, it had looked to be a stalemate, however, due to Vegeta's conditioning and training over the last seven years, he was able to keep going as he had built up his stamina and Gohan was eventually running out of steam, with his beam getting shorter and shorter. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up before Vegeta's would go right through him.

Just as Gohan had wondered where to turn to next, a third beam shot straight at the focal point of the two beams and pushed both out in to the sky. Both fighters stopped when this happened and looked at the ball of energy they had created just drift away in to the sky. They then both looked around to where the beams origin had come from.

It had turned out to be Piccolo, who had decided to put an end to the fight before it really got out of control.

"Are you mad Namekian, don't interrupt me in the middle of a battle. I should blow you up for that" yelled Vegeta.

"No Vegeta, you went too far, now, get down here so we can head home" shouted Bulma as she and the rest of the party had made their way back outside now that the death balls of energy had gone.

"Tsk! Fine." Yelled Vegeta, however, he flew over to Gohan first before heading down.

"You may be a Saiyan and still be stronger than everyone else on this planet, but that's no excuse for not training, you never know when you need to protect the ones you love most" said Vegeta as he powered down from super Saiyan and flew back towards the ground.

Gohan was a bit stunned as he was expecting more to be chewed out than, what seemed like encouragement from Vegeta. He floated there for a moment, with confusion on his face as he too powered down from super Saiyan.

"Well, I think we can call that a successful party, what do you say Chichi" said Krillin.

"Everyone is well fed, nobody died and Vegeta was an ass…yep, I'd say a success." replied Chichi.

"Hehe, good, well, I think we'll be heading off now, it is getting kinda late. C'mon honey, let's go" said Krillin as he turned to 18 who had picked Marron up.

"Sure" she replied before she turned to the others, "bye".

"C'mon Trunks, say bye to Goten and we'll head off too" said Bulma.

"Bye Goten" said Trunks.

"Bye Trunks" said Goten who was looking a little sad as his friend was leaving.

"C'mon Vegeta, let's go" Bulma said, turning to Vegeta.

Both Krillin and Bulma threw capsules in to some open space as their respective jet-copters popped out and both families climbed on board.

Vegeta turned around to face Gohan, who was still floating in the air and simply nodded at the boy. Gohan, now slightly out of his trance, responded by nodding back to the Saiyan Prince as Vegeta turned around and climbed on board, although he would have preferred to fly himself as he seen these contraptions as too slow for his liking.

Gohan then descended back to the ground and made his way over to the remaining few which were Piccolo, Chichi, Goten and Videl, who, throughout the entirety of the time since everyone came back out of the house, had not taken her eyes off of Gohan once.

"Okay, I'm going to go back in and clean up, Goten, you come help me and then we'll get you in a bath mister" said Chichi.

"Okay mom" replied Goten as he bounced back in to the house.

"Gohan" said Chichi.

"Yeah" replied Gohan as he turned to face his mother.

"You can come and help me when you're done, there's no rush" she said as she turned and walked back in to the house.

"Okay, sure" replied Gohan.

"In that case, I guess I'll be leaving too" said Piccolo.

"Sure, it was great seeing you again Piccolo, don't forget to drop by any time" said Gohan.

"Of course, just, try not to let your mom get you in to any more fights with Vegeta, ok" said Piccolo.

"You've got it" replied Gohan.

"It was nice to meet you Videl" Piccolo said as he turned to Videl.

"Oh, thank you, … it was a pleasure to meet you as well" said Videl, slowly responding as she was still trying to process everything that just happened.

With that, Piccolo took flight and headed off somewhere in to the distance.

Gohan and Videl then turned to each other;

"…So" said Gohan.

"I…don't even know…where to begin. This whole night, it's just…been, so much, you know" said Videl.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, I honestly didn't want you to find out about any of this. I just thought you'd think I was weird and would start telling the world. It's the last thing that we need, nobody needs to know about us and the Cell games, we prefer living the quiet life out here, away from any of that. So…I guess, what I'm saying Videl is, would you please promise not to tell anyone about us, you know, golden hair and all that?" asked Gohan.

"Ugh? Of course, Gohan I can see it's important to you all not to be revealed." She replied.

"Whew, thanks Videl" replied Gohan.

"And just for the record, I thought you were weird anyway" said Videl with a cheesy grin across her face.

"Oh, gee, thanks" said Gohan.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way Gohan, learn to take a joke" smiled Videl.

"Ok" said Gohan as a smile then lifted his sorrowed face.

"So…where do we go from here" asked Videl.

"Um…I'm not sure, I wasn't expecting an outcome quite like this to be honest" replied Gohan.

"Well, I want to hear more about all of this, are you busy tomorrow Gohan?" asked Videl.

"What? Erm, no, I don't believe so" replied Gohan.

"How about you come over to my house for dinner then, where, things will be a little less…weird" chuckled Videl.

"S-Sure, sounds great" said Gohan.

"Great. I suppose I'd better get heading home then" said Videl as she turned to walk over to where she could throw her jet-copter capsule.

Gohan then had a thought to really top the night off for weirdness for her.

"Hey Videl, wait" he called out to her.

"Huh, what's up?" she asked.

"Do you, want to see one last weird thing for tonight?" asked Gohan.

"I don't know if I could" said Videl.

"Trust me, I think you'll enjoy this one" he replied.

"NIMBUUUUUUUUUUSSSSS!" he shouted.

A cloud appeared as if from nowhere and hovered in front of the two.

"I-Is that a cloud Gohan" asked Videl.

"Yeah, this is flying nimbus. C'mon, you'll love this" said Gohan, as he climbed atop nimbus.

"Wait a minute, are you sitting on a cloud?" asked a startled Videl.

"Yep, here, climb on" he said.

Videl, looking bewildered, hesitantly climbed on to the floating cloud and immediately noticed, just how soft and comfy it was to sit on.

"Hehe, here we go" said Gohan as the cloud moved upwards in to the sky.

"Whoaaaa" said Videl as she clung on to Gohan.

* * *

The two were atop the cloud as it reached high in to the sky. Videl was still clinging on to Gohan by his arm, which is when she noticed for the first time that Gohan actually had muscles when she couldn't even find a speck of any fat on his biceps.

"Wow Gohan" said Videl.

"I know, it's amazing up here, isn't it" he replied.

"Huh? What? No, that's not what I was referring to, I just, never realised you had so many muscles" said Videl.

"Uh…yeah, well, I…never really…uh…yeah, hehe" was Gohan's reply as he had gone red in the face.

Videl then realised what she had said and she too, began to blush.

Gohan then beckoned nimbus higher still and forward.

"Um, Gohan, this isn't the way to my house" said Videl.

"I know, but, there's one last thing I think you should see before you head home" replied Gohan.

"Ok, sure" said Videl.

Nimbus took the two of them to a strange floating structure in the sky.

"What is that?" asked Videl.

"That is the lookout, it's where the guardian of Earth lives" replied Gohan.

"The guardian of Earth? But I thought it was that Kami guy that combined with Piccolo" asked Videl.

"It was, until they fused together but instead of Piccolo becoming the guardian of Earth, we decided to ask someone else, whom we know and trust" said Gohan.

"Oh, and who's that?" asked Videl.

"You'll meet him in a minute once we get there" replied Gohan.

It wasn't even a minute before they reached the outlook and nimbus slowed down before stopping. The two teenagers hopped off of the cloud, before a figure appeared in the doorway of the building.

"Ah, Gohan, it's been many years" said a turban wearing figure.

"Hey there Mr Popo, is Dende around?" he asked.

"Hey Gohan" came a voice from the doorway behind Mr Popo. Another Namekian appeared, younger than, and just as green as Piccolo.

"Hey, Dende!" replied Gohan.

"It's good to see you again Gohan, and who's this?" asked Dende.

"Oh, right, this is my friend, Videl. Videl, this is Dende, he's one of my oldest friends and, guardian of the Earth" said Gohan.

"It's nice to meet you" said Videl.

"It's nice to meet you too Videl" said Dende.

"So, what brings you up here Gohan?" asked Dende.

"Well, we kinda had a bit of an incident back down on the ground and Videl here, well, she now knows just exactly who we are" explained Gohan.

"Oh, I see, so why are you bringing her up here" asked Dende.

"Gee, er, to be honest, I don't really know, I just thought that it was a good idea at the time" replied Gohan.

"Oh well, that's fine. Anyway, I need to get back to work, guardian of the Earth has a lot more responsibilities than just looking down on the Earth the whole time you know" said Dende.

"Right, it was nice seeing you again Dende" said Gohan.

"It's was good seeing you again Gohan. It was nice to meet you Videl, please, come back any time" said Dende.

"Why…thank you" said Videl as her surprise turned in to a smile.

With that, Dende and Mr Popo went back inside the building.

"Hey, come over here for a minute" said Gohan as he walked over to the edge of the lookout.

"Look out there, this is the best view you'll get anywhere in the world. It's a great place to watch the sun rise or set" said Gohan.

As Videl watched the sun setting in the distance, she realised just how beautiful the world was from where they stood. She could practically see everything, South City, West City and even Satan City. She was also surprised that, after learning of there being aliens in the world that, Gohan and his family and friends were, just, really nice people and no different from anyone else, mostly.

She glanced at Gohan, realising that she might be feeling more for him than she first thought, but Videl wasn't like that, she didn't like boys that way, yet she couldn't help but feel something different for Gohan.

She looked back out towards the sun set;

"It's wonderful Gohan, thank you for bringing me up here but, really, it is getting late and I do really need to go now" she said.

"Right. Hey nimbus!" said Gohan as he turned back around to the cloud that was hovering not too far away.

They both climbed back aboard and once again, Gohan beckoned the cloud forward. This time, Videl wrapped her arms around his waist and cuddled in to his back to hold on as he was going a bit faster this time to try and make up some time.

Videl enjoyed the warmth that Gohan was giving her, not that she really had much choice if she wanted to not fall. However, she was enjoying this, she felt…safe around him, he was growing on her but she wouldn't admit it, not even to herself. She couldn't get distracted, there were other things that she still had to concentrate on, like her work for the police in Satan City, yet, she also felt like, she just wanted to know more about Gohan, not just the weird stuff that she found out tonight but, in general, she didn't know what to think, other than, get home, call Erasa and tell her everything (which seemed like such a foreign concept to her) and just relax.

After a not too long nimbus ride, the two were hovering above Videls home. Before descending downwards, Gohan checked around to make sure the coast was clear and after a moment or so, the cloud lowered itself to the ground and Videl and Gohan both hopped off;

"Thanks again Gohan for giving me a ride home, and for inviting me to your house for dinner" said Videl.

"Heh, don't thank me, after all, my mom was the one to invite you" replied Gohan.

"Still, it's been a weird night, I'm just happy that…you, kept me company, is all" said Videl, not really sure what she was saying at this point.

"Oh, uh, you're welcome?" said Gohan, not sure himself.

"Well, good night" said Videl as she turned to go towards her door.

Just before she walked away, she turned back to Gohan and gave him a small peck on the cheek, before her cheeks went red and she rushed back inside.

Gohan stood there, befuddled about what just happened and, after a minute or so, he snapped back to reality and climbed aboard nimbus and flew off back home.

* * *

Videl had just closed the door to her home and leaned against the back of the door, her heart was racing and she wasn't sure why, she didn't feel threatened and hadn't been fighting or doing any physical activities. She wasn't sure, but that would have to wait, she decided to phone Erasa and tell her how the night had gone.

She made her way upstairs at a quick pace and in to her room. The first thing she did was get that dress off, she was never really a fan of it but it worked for the night. She then found her top that she liked to wear to bed and a pair of loose fitting shorts that she also wore to bed.

She then moved over to her dresser and her mirror and began removing the make up with one hand whilst picking up the phone and dialling Erasa with the other. After a few short rings, the phone was answered;

"Hello" said Erasa.

"Hey Erasa, it's me" said Videl.

"Videl! Oh my God, how was it? What was his house like? Did he kiss you? Did you kiss him? What happened?" shouted Erasa excitedly.

"Erasa! Calm down. It was a…" said Videl, as she then realised, she couldn't really say much about the night without revealing details that she promised Gohan she wouldn't tell.

"It was a pleasant night, I met his family and friends" said Videl.

"And that's it? C'mon Videl, I need details" said Erasa frantically.

"There isn't anything to tell Erasa, we had food, we chatted, his mother is wonderful and his friends are very friendly people. I…couldn't find anything wrong with him, truth be told" said Videl.

"Awww, Videl, I think you've found yourself a winner in Gohan" said Erasa, teasingly.

"Please Erasa, I don't think about him that way, and even if I did, we're just so different, there's no way he'd get along with me" replied Videl.

"I don't know Videl, you couldn't find anything wrong, you went to his house for dinner, I'd say you've got a soft spot for him Videl" said Erasa with a smile across her face.

"Ugh, do not" replied Videl.

"Whatever girl, call me in the morning if you want to hang out, ok" said Erasa.

"Sure, call you later" replied Videl as both girls hung up the phone.

After Videl had hung up, she went over to her bed and got under the covers and got comfy. However, she couldn't sleep, her thumbs were twiddling and she kept tapping her feet together. Her heart was still racing slightly and her mind was too busy thinking about Gohan. She couldn't stop thinking about the warmth she felt when she held on to him on that cloud, and the view atop the lookout with him, it was giving her butterflies in her stomach.

"I don't feel anything for him" she was saying to herself, "it's just Gohan, he's nothing special".

But she just couldn't stop thinking about him. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep, with good thoughts, about Gohan, the one's that she told herself she didn't have.


	8. Chapter 8

Gohan awoke the next morning, surprised that everything had blown up in his face the previous night and yet, he came out relatively fine, in fact, he was quite happy, knowing that he didn't have to tip toe around Videl's suspicions anymore.

Gohan got out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower. There was no school today so he could take a little bit of extra time in the shower than normal. He stood in the shower for a few minutes pondering how tonight would go when he would go over to Videls for dinner. It was then that Gohan had remembered that he hadn't told Chichi that Videl had invited him over. That would be a fun conversation, Chichi would be drawing even more love hearts around her eldest son.

Gohan finished washing in the shower and got out and dried himself before going back to his room to put on some clean clothes for the day. He went downstairs and grabbed some breakfast that Chichi had made. Whilst his mother was cleaning, he decided he may as well tell her now, rather than leave it until later;

"Hey mom, I forgot to tell you, Videl invited me over to her house for dinner this evening, do you mind if I go?" asked Gohan.

"Really! Oh Gohan, that's wonderful news. Soon you'll both be married and have kids and I'll be a grandmother" said Chichi with stars and hearts filling her eyes.

"Mom, it's just dinner, it's more so that we can talk about what happened last night in a quieter and less, weird setting, for lack of a better description" said Gohan.

"Nevertheless Gohan, it could be the start of something wonderful" replied Chichi.

"Ok mom, whatever you say" said Gohan.

With that, Gohan finished his breakfast and went about his chores for the day.

* * *

Videl woke up that morning with a skip in her step. She sat up in her bed with a smile on her face, as she remembered the night before. She got off the bed and went in to her shower, which was part of an en-suite in her room. She turned on the hot water and removed her clothes and got in to the hot shower. She stood there for a moment, thinking about the events from last night, trying to piece them together and make full sense of them but she decided that it would probably be best to just ask Gohan questions later. She forgot about all of that for a moment and concentrated on the shower.

Once she had finished, she got out of the shower and dried herself off with a towel and wrapped her hair in another. Once she dried off enough, she got in to some of her usual baggy clothes and continued to dry off her hair before putting it back to the way she normally kept it.

Videl then went about her day as normal, she went downstairs to the gym that her father had specially built in their home for training and began her workout. She started with the punchbag as she always would, except she wasn't punching it today but rather, was kicking it, working on her leg strength for today. Videl seemed distracted though, she wasn't giving it her all and wasn't putting her full power behind the kicks.

"I don't know what's wrong, normally I'd have kicked this thing to bits by now" Videl said to herself.

Not knowing what else to do, she went on with her workout for the next hour and gave little thought to anything else as she continued pummelling the bag, switching between kicks and punches every so often so as to give her legs a rest.

Eventually, Videl had finished her workout and decided to grab an early lunch as she had skipped breakfast and opted to go straight to her workout for the day. Normally, lunch time is where she would take the time to talk to her dad about the week at school or if there was anything that she needed to discuss with him, such as inviting Gohan to dinner, but, she wouldn't need to today, he was away on business for a commercial and he was gonna plug his new autobiography at the same time, Hercule Satan: The Champ. Videl was unimpressed, now that she knew it was all a lie, she had completely lost interest in any of the accomplishments he had, knowing that he wasn't the strongest in the world.

Videl decided to start getting things set up for dinner. She searched the house until she found her favourite maid and explained that Gohan was coming over for dinner. She didn't have to say much before her maid had already thrown a plan together to get everything arranged for her. Videl was pretty much free at that point to do whatever she wanted, she had no prior arrangements for the day, other than Gohan coming over. She decided now might be the time to think up some questions to ask Gohan later on.

* * *

After Gohan had finished his chores and he took Goten out to play for a while, he returned home and looked at the time;

"Four o'clock, hmm, I suppose I should get ready to head over to Videls" he said to himself.

The young Saiyan decided to go take another shower, after all, playing with Goten isn't usually just playing, but regularly involves sparring as well. Once he was out of the shower and dried, he put on a white shirt with a red tie and put on a blue suit jacket and trousers to match and some nice dress shoes as well.

He went downstairs to the kitchen to speak to Chichi;

"Well mom, how do I look?" he asked.

Chichi turned around to meet her eldest son;

"Oh Gohan, you look wonderful and very smartly dressed, you must really like this girl" said Chichi as she gave her son a wink.

"Uh…sure mom, right" was his reply.

"Anyway, since Videl brought a gift when she turned up last night, I thought maybe I should do the same thing, any suggestions?" Gohan asked.

"Hmmm, I've got an idea, wait here" said Chichi.

She left the room and went out the back door. A few minutes later, she returned with a bunch of roses in hand and trimmed off all the thorns and excess stem and placed them in to a crystal vase, with a blue hue and…a rose…pattern…on the front? Gohan recognised this vase;

"Mom, those are your prized roses and that's the vase I bought for you yesterday that you love" said Gohan in surprise at what his mother was doing.

"I know Gohan, but I think Videl will really like and appreciate these, besides, flowers are a way to a girls' heart…as well as chocolate…diamonds…money…the list is really quite long" said Chichi as she turned with a smile towards Gohan.

"I'm not trying to impress her mom, I'm just bringing a gift over like she did last night, remember" Gohan pleaded.

"Whatever you say sweetie" replied Chichi.

"Anyway, I need to get going, thanks again for the flowers mom" said Gohan

"You're welcome sweetie, don't stay out too late, remember, you've got school tomorrow and have a good time" said Chichi.

"I will mom" replied Gohan as he exited through the front door.

"NIMBUUUUUUUUUUSSSSS!" yelled Gohan.

Sure enough, nimbus arrived and Gohan hopped on and away they went towards Satan City.

* * *

It was late afternoon and the food was being prepared by the kitchen staff and the table was being set. Videl decided to get ready for dinner, seeing as it was really only going to be her and Gohan, she didn't see the need to get all dressed up the way she had the night before so she just threw on her normal white baggy t-shirt and shorts.

She then went downstairs to see how things were getting on and when she got there, her maid had pointed out that what she was wearing was no good and that she needed to go change in to something more appropriate.

"Seriously, why do I need to change, hmm let's see, what can I wear?" Videl said to herself as she looked through her walk-in closet.

After some rummaging, she couldn't really find anything that she was happy to wear. As she turned to walk back out of the closet, she noticed the white summer dress with sunflowers on it that Erasa had suggested the night before.

"Well, it does look nice, I suppose I'll just wear this" said Videl as she removed it from the closet and laid it on the bed. She quickly locked her bedroom door just in case someone had chosen that moment to walk in, as she removed her top and shorts and slipped in to the dress.

She then went on to doing her hair, which, she hadn't touched since yesterday, so it was in a bit of a mess. She decided first to brush it until it had calmed its nonsense, then she grabbed a bobble and put it in to a ponytail. It was really all she could do with it as it had been properly straightened by Erasa the day before and the pigtails were something she would do back up later.

Now that her dress and hair were sorted, she needed to wear some shoes, unfortunately, she lost the silver ones from the night before but thankfully, she owned white sneakers, which is just what Videl would have wanted to wear anyway.

Videl was now ready and just waiting for Gohan to arrive. No sooner had she finished when the doorbell rang.

* * *

Gohan had arrived at Videls house and had nimbus drop him off just around the side of the house. He walked around to the front door and pressed the doorbell. After a moment of waiting, he was greeted at the door by a maid;

"H-hello, is, Videl here?" asked Gohan.

Videl had already descended the stairs and was out of sight when the door was opened and Gohan had asked for her. She stepped out from behind the door;

"I'm here Gohan" said Videl.

"W-wow, Videl I…hardly recognised you, you look…great" said Gohan.

"Why, thanks Gohan" replied Videl as her face began to blush.

"Oh, these are for you" said Gohan as he handed Videl the vase full of roses.

"Oh, wow, thank you Gohan. They're beautiful. Wait a second, isn't this the vase you bought for your mom yesterday at the mall?" asked Videl.

"Yeah, it is. I asked my mom about a gift to bring, seeing as you had done the same yesterday and it would be rude not to and, this is what she suggested." answered Gohan.

"Wow, remember to thank her for me, would you" asked Videl.

"Sure, I'll let her know" replied Gohan.

Videl then handed the vase to her maid and asked her to take them to her room.

"C'mon in, dinner is just about ready" said Videl.

She led Gohan to through to a dining room where a fancy mahogany table was sitting, with places set for both of them, cutlery all set out and some plates, with candles already lit. Both Gohan and Videl were taken aback, Gohan was surprised as he wasn't expecting this, after all, Videl did say less weird and it certainly seemed a bit awkward now. Videl was surprised as she hadn't seen the set up before letting Gohan in, she had been pretty vague when it came to explaining to her maid what exactly dinner was meant to be.

"Shall we get seated then" said Videl, trying to act as if this was a normal thing.

"Huh, yeah, sure" replied Gohan.

As Videl went to sit down, Gohan pulled her chair out for her;

"Here you go Videl" said Gohan.

"Gohan, you don't have to do that you know" replied Videl.

"Um, well, my mother always taught me manners and that I must always pull out a chair for a lady" said Gohan.

"Well, I'm not exactly a lady Gohan, so just make sure you don't do it again in future, ok" said Videl.

"Uh, sure" replied Gohan as he then took his seat.

"I have to say though Gohan, you are looking sharp tonight, what's the special occasion" said Videl with a smirk on her face.

"Uh, what? No, no, this is just what I would wear if I was invited to dinner" replied Gohan.

"I was only teasing you Gohan, I know why you're dressed, jeez, learn to take a joke would ya" said Videl.

"S-sure" said Gohan.

They made small chat for a while as dinner was served to them and Gohan, being the Saiyan that he is, had to remind himself to not scoff down every morsel of food he found in front of himself.

* * *

As the evening had went on and both of them had finished their dinners, Videl decided that it was question time for Gohan;

"So Gohan, now that we've had a lovely dinner, I'd like to ask you some more questions about, well, lots of things" said Videl.

"Ok, shoot, what do you want to know" asked Gohan.

"Right, firstly, is there anyone else from your group of friends who I haven't met or don't know of?" asked Videl.

"Hmmm, let's see. Well, you met my mother and Goten, Trunks of course, Vegeta and Bulma, Krillin and 18, Piccolo, Dende and Mr Popo. I suppose that means you haven't met Yamcha, Tien or Chiaotzu, 17, Master Roshi and of course, my dad" answered Gohan.

"Wait, I thought you said your dad was dead?" asked Videl.

"He is but, he's in otherworld, which is where you go when you die. Due to his pure heart and the good that he brought out in everyone, he was allowed to keep his body in otherworld. Also, if we ever wished him back with the dragon balls, you'd be able to meet him" replied Gohan.

"Ok, then why haven't you wished him back?" asked Videl.

"Well, it's kinda hard to explain but, he chose not to come back" replied Gohan.

"What? What do you mean he chose not to come back?" asked Videl.

"He believed that the world was better off without him as a lot of the bad things that happened on Earth revolved around him in some way" replied Gohan.

"Ok, I suppose that does make some sense then" said Videl.

"So what else do you want to know?" asked Gohan.

"You said Yamcha earlier on, do you mean the world-famous baseball player Yamcha?" asked Videl.

"Yep, the very same. Before he was a baseball player, he was an extremely talented martial artist and competed in the World Martial Arts tournament along with my father. Where do you think he got all those scars from?" replied Gohan.

"I suppose that does answer the question about those scars. So, who is this Master Roshi guy then?" Videl further questioned.

"Master Roshi is the famed martial artist from the Turtle Hermit school of Martial Arts. He was once the most famous and strongest martial artist in the world. He taught my great grandfather Gohan and my mom's father, or my grandfather, the Ox-King" replied Gohan.

"Wha-you're telling me that you know the Turtle Hermit. My dad used to watch really old martial arts tournaments where his name was mentioned. He's a legend. And the Ox-King, I heard he was the most terrifying beast in the world at one point" said Videl.

"Well, he's always been a gentle giant in our home" said Gohan.

"I'm sure he is" said Videl with a smile on her face.

"Ok, so, where do Saiyans come from then?" asked Videl, with a slightly more serious tone.

"Well, you might not like the answer to this one but, they came from the planet Vegeta" replied Gohan.

"Wait! What? But I thought, that guy's name was Vegeta" said Videl.

"It is, he's Prince Vegeta, his father was called King Vegeta and the planet is named Vegeta. I know, I know, it's confusing as hell, I've never really quite understood that one myself" said Gohan.

"O-ok, we'll skip that for now, but tell me this, how did the Cell games even start?" she asked.

"Erm, can we come back to that one, that's going to need a whole chapter to itself I think to explain that one" said Gohan.

"Sure, I'll ask a different question then, just exactly how strong are you Gohan?" asked Videl.

"Hmmm, that's a good question, I have no idea how to answer that one, after all, once you can start breaking anything you touch, it's really quite hard to measure it. Let's put it this way, the only people who could possibly be stronger than me are my dad, Vegeta and maybe Piccolo, depending on how much he's trained in the last seven years." replied Gohan.

"So, you think you could take me in a fight then?" she asked.

"Um, well, I'd really rather not fight you Videl if I could possibly avoid it" he replied.

"And why is that? Do you think that I'm too weak, that I couldn't possibly hurt you, is that it?" asked Videl, with a fire burning in her eyes.

"No, no, not at all, it's just, I like you and I don't like to fight with people I like, or at all, for that matter, unless I'm forced to" he answered.

"Oh, well, I guess I should be thankful then that I'm liked so much" said Videl.

"In that case, there's something else I want to ask" said Videl.

"Ok, what is it?" asked Gohan.

"Do you think, you could, teach me how to shoot energy from my hands and…fly?" asked Videl nervously.

"Yeah, of course, it might take a while. Why do you want to shoot energy though? You're already a great martial artist" said Gohan.

"Yeah of course I am, but I was talking to that Krillin guy and he said that everyone has energy and that everyone is capable of it" said Videl.

"Yeah, that's right, every living being has energy and is capable of using it, it just takes time" said Gohan.

"Right, so I wanna be able to do that too, like you guys" said Videl.

"Sure, I might need to get some help from some of my friends though as I've never really taught anybody how to do that kinda stuff and, well, they have" said Gohan.

"Ok, sounds like fun. When do we start?" asked Videl.

"How about tomorrow after school, if you're free that is?" said Gohan.

"I'll double check but I think tomorrow should be fine" replied Videl.

"Great" said Gohan.

"So, there's another question I want to ask you but, I don't know how to ask it without…making you unhappy" said Videl pensively.

"Ok? What is it?" asked Gohan.

"What…what happened to your dad? If you don't mind me asking?" asked Videl.

Gohan shifted a bit uncomfortable in his chair for a moment whilst he thought about it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel sad, forget I even asked the question" said Videl, noticing Gohan's uneasiness at the question.

"No, it's ok, I suppose it's something I should tell you as it's actually a part of your other question about the Cell games" replied Gohan.

"Oh, really, well in that case then, I want to get comfier before we talk about all of that, if you don't mind" said Videl.

"Ok, sure, I guess" replied Gohan.

"C'mon, follow me" said Videl.

The two got up from the table and Gohan followed Videl through the house. She took him to another room where it seemed to be some sort of games room or recreational room. There was a pool table, some pinball and arcade machines, a bean bag chair, even a bookcase with some old (and some new) books in it. Against one of the walls was a large screen tv and a sofa sat about two to three meters away from it.

Videl sat on the sofa first and brought her legs up underneath her;

"Have a seat Gohan, I'm ready to hear all about the Cell games" said Videl.

Gohan took a seat next to Videl on the sofa and turned to face Videl who was just sitting there, with a smile on her face.


	9. Chapter 9

"Ok, so, to tell you this story, you're going to have to believe me on certain things that might be hard to take in" said Gohan.

"Ok, I understand" said Videl.

"To understand this fully, we have to go way back to when I was just a child, to when the Saiyans first arrived" he said.

"When I was about four, a Saiyan came to Earth to find my dad, you see, my dad was sent here to actually destroy everything on the planet but, he bumped his head really hard when he was young and apparently, forgot what he was meant to do" said Gohan.

"Yeah, I remember, Vegeta was explaining this" said Videl.

"Oh, he did? Ok, well, what do you know about that story?" asked Gohan.

"I know that Raditz came to Earth to look for your father but wasn't able to convince him to kill everyone so they fought and both your dad and Piccolo eventually defeated him, before Vegeta arrived" answered Videl.

Gohan explained the Raditz and Vegeta Sagas before moving on to the Namek Saga;

"I would say I'm surprised when you mentioned other planets and space, but, we've been talking about Aliens for two days now so, I'm not really that surprised" said Videl.

"Great, cause it's only going to get weirder" replied Gohan.

Gohan continued to explain everything, all the way through to Future Trunks;

"Whoa, time travel? Are you serious?" asked Videl.

"Yep, sure am. And he was right, at least about some things, androids did turn up three years after he said they would, except, they weren't the two androids that we were expecting but a completely different pair of androids." said Gohan.

"Oh my" gasped Videl.

He went on to explain about the heart attack Goku had, and everything that happened with the androids that Future Trunks had described.

"Ok, now that we've covered all of that, this is where Cell comes in to the picture" said Gohan.

Videl perked up a bit, she seemed to be a bit tired from all the talking that Gohan had been doing but, he did say that he had to go way back to explain how the Cell games started.

"Doctor Gero had already created Cell, but he was nowhere near ready to be able to walk and talk, let alone fight anyone, so Cell is actually, from the future as well" explained Gohan.

"What? No Way!" exclaimed Videl.

"Yeah, it's all true. In order for Cell to get stronger, he had to absorb people, which explained all the mass disappearances when Cell first showed up" said Gohan.

"But his real goal was to absorb androids 17 and 18, with them, he would become what he called Perfect Cell" said Gohan.

"He was eventually successful and became Perfect Cell, at which point we didn't stand a chance. His ego got the better of him and that's when he went on the news and created the Cell games and, of course, that's where your dad entered in to the picture as well" Gohan explained.

"Yeah, the 'champion' of the world" said Videl sarcastically. Gohan smirked at this.

"He gave us a week to train and we spent some of that time training but dad cut our training short, saying that we didn't need to train anymore, not that I understood him at the time" said Gohan.

"On the day of the Cell games, we all went to confront Cell. Your father arrived right after we did and of course, you seen what happened on tv up until the broadcast went off" said Gohan.

"Yeah, I did" replied Videl.

"So, what happened was, I was already in my super Saiyan form, you know, the one you seen last night, but I wasn't strong enough to beat him in that form, heck, my dad couldn't even do it and he blasted Cell to pieces, only for Cell to regenerate" he said.

"So, once Cell sent his Cell juniors after my friends, I just, lost control of my emotions, and that's when it happened, that's when I got this great boost of power. Basically, I transformed again to what's known as a Saiyan who has ascended past a super Saiyan, although, we just call it super Saiyan two" he explained.

"Super Saiyan two?" said Videl.

"Yep, there's only two different stages, that we know of at least, super Saiyan and super Saiyan two" said Gohan.

"Once I went super Saiyan two, I was outclassing Cell at every turn, he couldn't beat me, but, that's also where everything went wrong" said Gohan, as his face frowned when he thought about what he was going to say next.

"What do you mean?" asked Videl.

"Well, once I knew that I could beat him, I wanted him to suffer, I wanted Cell to experience the fear and anguish that everyone else had been feeling, so I toyed with him for a while. Ultimately though, I had to save Vegeta from Cell. You see, Cell had injured Future Trunks, near fatally and Vegeta was torn up about that so he threw everything he had at Cell but it wasn't enough and Cell attacked Vegeta, I took a blast of energy and basically lost the use of one of my arms for the rest of the fight" said Gohan.

"What? Oh no, that must have been awful" said Videl.

"It was but, the worst was yet to come" said Gohan. Videl looked on with a puzzled and saddened look.

"After that, Cell overpowered me, I wasn't able to do anything to stop him but, he couldn't stop me either so instead, he decided to take me and everyone else on the planet with him. He decided to self-destruct" said Gohan.

Videl gasped at the words Gohan had just spoke;

"Then what happened?" she asked.

"Well, he had to gather energy in order to make a blast on that scale, so he took his time. This afforded my dad the opportunity we all thought we needed. You see, my dad can teleport anywhere in an instant using a technique he learned on the planet Yardrat, he calls it Instant Transmission" explained Gohan.

"That sounds awesome, think you could teach me that too?" asked Videl.

"Sorry, but my dad is the only person who knows how to do it" Gohan explained.

"Oh, that's too bad" said Videl.

"My dad decided that, the only way to save the Earth, was to grab Cell, using Instant Transmission, and take him somewhere off planet. So, he teleported him to somewhere in otherworld, with only moments to spare. He…he…he sacrificed his own life to save everyone on Earth Videl. And, it's my fault, I took too long toying with Cell, I should have just finished him when my dad told me to, then maybe he'd still be alive today" said Gohan, with a pained look on his face.

"It's okay Gohan, you had a good reason not to kill Cell, you wanted him to see the wrong that he did, even if you maybe went about it differently, you still wanted to see the good in him, even if there wasn't any there. Don't blame yourself" said Videl, as she reached over and hugged Gohan.

"Thanks Videl" said Gohan.

Videl then released her hold on Gohan slightly and realised just exactly how close she was to Gohan's face. She looked in to his eyes and then down at his lips, then back to his eyes before she realised just how close and uncomfortable this was. She quickly sat back and took her hands off of Gohan.

Gohan, was as equally embarrassed at how close Videl had gotten, but at the same time, didn't mind her hugging him, in fact, truth be told, he kind of liked it, he just didn't know how to say to Videl that he liked it when she hugged him.

Their moment, however, was cut short, when they could hear some commotion coming from the hallway outside of the room.

* * *

Just as they had heard the commotion, three men burst in to the room;

"Alright, nobody move, we're robbing this joint" shouted one of the men.

Three men, with masks and hoods over their heads and faces had stormed in to the room. The three robbers also appeared to be carrying guns. Gohan felt around the house for the different energies, he could sense that there were definitely more people in the house than there should be, by his count, there were five robbers in total, though it was hard to tell as he didn't know how many staff were in the house.

"Put your hands in the air and tell us where all the money and jewellery are kept" shouted a second gunman.

Videl didn't answer them but had a death stare looking straight at the man who was asking the question. The other two were searching the room, trying to find anything that they could carry.

"Are you deaf? I said, where's the money and jewellery kept?" he repeated in a louder voice.

"There isn't any here, and even if there were, I'm not about to tell you" snarled Videl.

"Fine then, if you won't tell us, then I guess we'll just beat it outta ya" said the gunman.

He approached Videl, ready to pistol whip her for her disobedience. Gohan was uneasy with this and was about to make a move when suddenly, Videl beat him to the punch, literally, as she brushed aside the gun with one hand and landed a punch right on the gunman's jaw, knocking him clean out.

The other two gunmen swung around to see what was happening, however, Videl had already rushed the two men and had swung a kick to disarm the first guy and followed it up with a strong elbow from under his chin, sending the man to the ground with a crash.

The third guy tried to take a shot at Videl but his gun jammed, so instead, he threw it at Videl and it missed her narrowly. He raised his fists and tried to have a hand to hand fight with Videl, realising that she was no child who would easily be pushed over. He tried to throw jabs at Videl, who ducked them with ease. Eventually, after a moment or two of throwing pitiful jabs, he followed it up with a big swing. Videl seeing this and with her quick reactions, grabbed the man's wrist and ducked underneath the swing and wrenched the arm up his back. She followed up by kicking the back of his knee to bring him to the ground and she finished him off by wrapping her arms around his neck and applying enough pressure until the man passed out.

As the man flopped to the ground, Gohan was dumbfounded, he couldn't believe that Videl actually pulled off what he had just witnessed, especially with the amount of danger that they were both in. He rushed over to Videl;

"Videl, are you ok? That was amazing, I didn't realise just how good, no, how awesome you are as a crime fighter" said Gohan with amazement in his voice.

"Hehe, well, I am a trained martial artist you know" said Videl, cheerily, knowing that she was getting high praise from one of the strongest people on the planet.

"You won't be so cheery when I'm done with you" came another voice.

The other two robbers arrived, one was carrying a sack, presumably full of the staff's belongings, wallets, etc, as well as other items that they had pilfered. The other, had some type of automatic or semi-automatic gun, like an Uzi, something that would most likely be found in a street gang.

"Videl, look out!" yelled Gohan, as he turned to face the two men and charged forward towards them.

The gunman let rip and a foray of bullets were launched towards the two teenagers. Gohan grabbed them all, as if out of thin air and stopped right in front of the gunman once he was done, he then dropped them all to the ground, to the gunman's astonishment. Gohan then punched the gunman right in the stomach and he collapsed to the ground. The last robber, having witnessed what just happened, decided that it was no longer worth it and dropped his bag and tried to run away.

Gohan wasn't having that, he ran up to the man and swept his legs, putting the man momentarily in mid-air, that was all Gohan needed as he then grabbed one of the robber's ankles and threw him against a wall, knocking him out as well.

"Well, I think that about does it. Could you call the police please? We need to get these guys out of here" said Gohan as he turned towards one of the maids who were out in the hallway where the last two robbers had been.

"G-G…Go…Gohannn…" came a voice from behind Gohan.

He turned around to see Videl, clutching just underneath her chest area and…blood, trickling down her white dress. Gohan's mouth gaped open and he looked at Videl's face, it had panic written all across it, she knew she had been hit by one of the bullets and was doing everything she could to be brave, but she was scared, terrified even, as she slumped down to the ground.

"VIDEL!" shouted Gohan, as he rushed over to where Videl had slumped over and knelt beside her, picking her up with one arm and holding the back of her head with the other.

"Videl! Are you okay? Say something?" said Gohan.

Tears were forming in her eyes;

"Go-han" she said, the panic now very obvious in her voice. She was scared, and she had every right to be, she had just been shot after all. Gohan's eyes also began to well up, he couldn't believe that he managed to miss one of the shots, despite his Saiyan reflexes. At that moment, Gohan froze up and thought back to what Vegeta had said to him the night before:

" _You may be a Saiyan and still be stronger than everyone else on this planet, but that's no excuse for not training, you never know when you need to protect the ones you love most"_

He was right, thanks to Gohan being lazy with training and focusing on all his studies, here was someone who was now injured, and badly. Gohan looked down to Videl again;

"Gohan…hmph (Videl wincing), I'm…scared" said Videl, as she tried to hold back her tears as best she could.

"Hang on Videl, I'll get you some help" said Gohan, with panic also in his voice.

He wasn't sure exactly what to do, a conventional hospital would be the best place but even then, it might be too late before they could repair whatever damage had already occurred. A senzu bean would work perfectly, but there wasn't any guarantee that Korin would have any. No, his best chance would be to take Videl to see Dende, he would be able to fix Videl, without a doubt.

"Ok Videl, I'm going to take you to Dende, he can heal you right up, just hang in there" he said frantically.

He found some tissues nearby in the room and used them to try and control the bleeding;

"Ok Videl, keep applying pressure while I take us to Dende" he said.

"O…ok…" said Videl, as her words were beginning to trail off. She was struggling to stay awake.

Gohan sent an energy blast to the nearest window, picked Videl up in his arms and jumped out and immediately took flight. He sped as fast as he could towards the lookout with Videl in his arms. He had only made it about halfway there when he realised that Videl's arms appeared to be limp;

"Videl?" he said, his heart skipping a beat.

The girl lay motionless, her head tilting backwards, with no response to Gohan calling her name;

"No! No! No" said Gohan.

Gohan took a moment to transform in to a super Saiyan, possibly the fastest he had ever transformed, and threw all his energy in to flying towards the lookout;

"Please don't be too late" he said, weeping to himself, noticing that Videl's energy was almost non-existent.

* * *

Ordinarily, it would take about thirty minutes for Gohan to reach the lookout but there was no time to be wasted tonight. In under ten minutes, Gohan had managed to go from Satan City to the lookout, a new record perhaps, but that was unimportant right now, he needed to get Videl help, and fast;

"DENDE!" shouted the young Saiyan.

"DENDE! HELP! PLEASE!" he screamed, as he ran towards the building.

Just as he was about to reach the steps to the front of the building, Mr Popo and Dende both appeared;

"What's wrong Goha- " said Dende, before he gasped at the sight of Videl.

"Oh my!" said Mr Popo.

They both rushed over as Gohan placed her on the ground at the base of the stairs. The girl lay motionless, her eyes closed, her chest didn't appear to be moving. It looked like she wasn't breathing;

"Dende! Please! You have to help her!" pleaded Gohan as tears filled his eyes and rolled down his face, dripping on to the ground next to Videl.

"I'll try Gohan, I'll try" said the young Namekian.

He placed his hands above Videl and concentrated for a few minutes with his head lowered. Nothing appeared to be happening, Videl was not moving, the wound hadn't disappeared and Dende hadn't said a word, as Gohan stood there quietly, hoping that the worst would never come.

Eventually, Dende lowered his arms but did not raise his head immediately;

"Gohan…I'm…sorry, but she's gone" said Dende begrudgingly.

"Wh-what? No! It can't be Dende! There has to be something you can do, please! I'm begging you Dende…please" said Gohan, unwilling to accept what Dende was telling him.

"I'm sorry Gohan but, it's too late, she didn't get here in time" replied Dende, eventually looking up at the heart broken Saiyan.

Gohan stood there, crying over the loss of his friend. He felt enormously guilty that another person died because he failed to save them. After a few moments of crying, Gohan suddenly let out a roar:

"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Gohan's energy shot out of control, he transformed straight up to super Saiyan two and let out his anger, sadness, fear, every emotion imaginable ran unchecked in the young Saiyan. The entire lookout was shaking from the sheer amount of energy that Gohan was emitting. It didn't go unnoticed by Dende or Mr Popo.

* * *

In fact, Gohan's energy was so high, it attracted attention from elsewhere;

"Huh, what is this energy, it's…it's staggering" said Vegeta.

"Gohan?" said Vegeta, puzzled, once he realised whom the energy was coming from.

He left the gravity room and went to find Bulma. He found her in a lab, working away;

"Woman!" he said, trying to get Bulma's attention.

"Really, you can't call me by my name, seriously, you've got some nerve Vegeta" replied an annoyed Bulma.

"Never mind that, call Kakarot's wife would you, Gohan is emitting an erratic amount of energy and it doesn't feel right" said Vegeta.

"Gohan? Sure, I'll call her right away" replied Bulma.

At that moment, Trunks walked in;

"Mom, Dad, what's going on? I can feel Gohan's energy all the way from here" said Trunks.

"I don't know son, c'mon, we're going to find out" said Vegeta.

"Ok" replied Trunks.

The two left the building and flew off in to the air, following the source of Gohan's energy.

Meanwhile, Bulma had phoned Chichi to find out what was happening.

* * *

Goten was playing with his action figures in his room when he felt some form of disturbance. He'd recognised the energy anywhere;

"Huh, Gohan?" said Goten.

He went downstairs but couldn't see his mother anywhere. He made his way to the front room where Chichi was sat watching tv;

"Hey mom, where's Gohan?" asked Goten.

"Hmm, why he's out having dinner with his girlfriend, Videl. Why do you ask?" asked Chichi, with a smile on her face as she was so sure that Gohan would be dating Videl, sooner rather than later she hoped.

"I can feel his energy, and it's huge" replied Goten.

"What? Do you know why?" asked Chichi.

Goten shook his head, indicating that he didn't know what was going on.

Just as Chichi had asked Goten the question, the phone began to ring;

"Son residence" said Chichi as she answered the phone.

"Chichi! It's Bulma" said Bulma.

"Oh, hey Bulma, how are things?" asked Chichi.

"You tell me! What's happening with Gohan?" asked Bulma.

"I don't know Bulma, Goten just entered the room saying he could feel Gohan's energy. Why? Has something happened?" said Chichi, worryingly.

"I don't know, but Vegeta and Trunks could both feel it too, they're away to find out what's going on" said Bulma.

"Do you know where they went?" asked Chichi.

"No, I don't know, they're just following the energy" replied Bulma.

"I know where it is" piped up Goten.

"Goten? Where are they going?" asked Chichi.

"Gohan's energy is coming from the lookout" replied Goten.

"That doesn't sound good" said Bulma, who heard what Goten had said.

"Tell you what, I'll come pick you up and we'll head up to the lookout and find out what's going on" said Bulma.

"Ok, please get here as soon as you can Bulma" said Chichi.

"Will do" said Bulma as she hung up the phone and ran out of the lab.

* * *

Krillin was enjoying a night off from police work and had took 18 and Marron to Kame House to visit Master Roshi;

"So, Master Roshi, what have you been up to since we last visited" asked Krillin.

"Oh, you know, same old thing, doing my exercise in the mornings, reading books, the usual" replied Master Roshi.

"You mean, watching the women on tv do exercise and reading dirty magazines" said 18.

"Hey, I'm an old man, I've earned some time to myself" said Master Roshi.

"You haven't changed a bit, have you Master, hehe" said Krillin.

"I guess not, so what's new with you lot then, eh?" asked Master Roshi.

"Nothing much with us, but Gohan started his first day of high school recently" said Krillin.

"Did he now, my they grow so fast" said Master Roshi.

"Yeah, we met him yesterday at the mall with his friends, some of which are girls. I'm sure Chichi already has him married to one of them" said Krillin.

"I'd bet it's that one that you talked to" said 18.

"Who? Videl? Yeah maybe, she seemed quite nice when I talked to her" replied Krillin.

At that moment, the whole island shook;

"What? What's going on?" said Master Roshi.

"It-it's Gohan! His energy is off the charts. What is going on?" said Krillin.

A few moments later, the island stopped shaking, but the energy was still unusually high.

"I don't like this at all, maybe we should go investigate" said Krillin.

"Good idea, who knows, Gohan might need our help" said Master Roshi.

"Are you coming babe" Krillin asked 18.

"Of course, let's go" replied 18.

The four jumped in Krillin's jet-copter and made their way towards the source of the power.

* * *

Piccolo had finally found some solitude, away from civilisation and somewhat far from where all his friends lived. He was deep in meditation, levitating above a lake, as Piccolo does.

The lake was calm, not a thing moved in it, the water undisturbed. Some rings formed in the lake, small to start with, then suddenly getting bigger. Piccolo opened one eye and looked down;

"Huh?" said Piccolo.

Just as he looked down, a huge wave of energy hit him;

"Wha-What's this?" he said.

"It-it's incredible" he continued.

The wave of energy disappeared as quickly as it arrived.

"I don't like this, that came from Gohan and he's far off, but it didn't come from his house, it felt like…the lookout. I better go check it out" he said, before taking off.


	10. Chapter 10

Videl found herself standing in a room, a large room, in fact, about the size of her home but, just a single room. In it, there was a desk and a giant of a person sitting at it. He had red skin, horns and was wearing a hat and a suit. He had a lot of hair and a beard and moustache.

At the feet on either side of the desk were two people, around about the height of Videl, or at least, normal sized anyway. They however, had blue skin and were wearing shirts and ties, as if they worked here or something.

"Hello" said the giant man.

"Wha-What is this place? Where am I? Who are you? What happened" asked Videl, as she looked down to where she had been shot, remembering at that moment what had happened to her.

"I am King Yemma. I'm afraid you were shot and died not moments ago. This, is the check-in station to otherworld." said King Yemma.

"I…died?" said a puzzled Videl.

"I'm afraid so. Now, let me just check here to see what you've done with your life" said King Yemma.

Videl just looked on, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, dead? No, that couldn't be right, but, then again, she had no wound from where she had been shot, no blood, no pain. Maybe she was just dreaming.

"Ok, it says here you died of a gunshot wound taking on a number of men who stormed in to your home. Before that, you were doing the community a service by assisting your local police to fight and capture villains and bad guys alike" said King Yemma.

"O-ok but, what does that mean?" asked Videl.

"It means that, as you put other people first before yourself and put yourself in danger many times, you get to keep your body in otherworld. It's a privilege not many souls get" replied King Yemma.

"O…k, so, what do I do now?" she asked.

"Well, normally, we'd send you off to the higher plane but, I think there's someone else you should meet first. You'll enjoy your time with him" said King Yemma.

"And, who is that?" asked Videl.

"That would be King Kai. He'll train you in martial arts and techniques, not to mention your physical body, beyond anything you've experienced before" replied King Yemma.

"Really? That…that actually sounds ok. Wait a minute, what happened to Gohan?" she asked.

"Gohan, Gohan, let me see here" said King Yemma as he looked through his book.

"Nope, not here, he must still be alive" he replied.

"Oh" said Videl, now looking a bit disappointed.

"Don't worry, he'll be up here someday too" said King Yemma.

"I…suppose so" said a dejected Videl.

"Right, well, if you just go through that door (King Yemma pointed to his right, which was to Videls left), that will take you to snake way, you must follow it all the way to the end to get to King Kai's planet, but be careful, if you fall off of snake way, you will fall in to hell and there is no way to get back up from there" said King Yemma.

Videl gasped at what King Yemma had said but was determined to go and see this King Kai and receive the training;

"Ok" said Videl with a bit more confidence than she had had recently.

As Videl went to walk out of the door, a man suddenly appeared, as if out of thin air, right in front of her. Videl took a step back;

"What? Who are you? And where did you come from? Wait…don't I know you?" said Videl.

* * *

A man stood in front of Videl, but not just any man, he wore a bright orange Gi, with a blue obi around the waist and was wearing a dark blue shirt underneath. His hair was spiky and black. He wore blue wristbands and blue shoes and, had a halo above his head.

"Hey!" said the stranger.

"Uh, hey" replied Videl.

"You're Videl, aren't you" he asked.

"Yeah that's right. A-are you by chance, Gohan's father, Goku?" asked Videl.

"Yep, sure am" replied Goku.

Videl gasped.

"Wow, well, I guess that settles it, I really am dead then, huh" said Videl.

"Yeah, I'm afraid so, but there's still hope" said Goku.

"What do you mean?" asked Videl.

"You can be revived using the dragon balls" said Goku.

"Oh…yeah, that's right, I forgot about that. Do you think Gohan would really use them to bring me back?" asked Videl.

"Absolutely. He cares about you, more than you or he realises. He'll make the right decision and bring you back, I promise" said Goku.

Videl's eyes started to well up and she began to jump in excitement;

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you" said Videl as she rushed over to Goku and gave him a big hug.

"Hey, hey, calm down. There is a small catch" said Goku.

Videl released Goku and looked up at him;

"Wh-what do you mean there's a catch?" asked Videl.

"Well, in order for him to wish you back, he'll need to collect all seven dragon balls and right now, he only has one at home, but don't worry, Bulma has this thing called a dragon radar, it's what allows us to find the dragon balls so quickly, he'll find them in no time at all" said Goku.

"Uh, that's a relief" said Videl.

"Right. Now, seeing as you'll probably be here for a little while, do you wanna go train?" asked Goku.

"Wha…sure" said Videl, smiling up at Goku.

"Great, here, take a hold of my hand" said Goku.

Videl complied and took a hold of Goku's hand. He then placed two fingers on his forehead;

"Ok, here we go" said Goku.

And just like that, both of them had disappeared and then reappeared, but this time, on King Kai's planet.

"What the? How did you do that?" asked Videl.

"It's a technique I learned a long time ago, it's called Instant Transmission" replied Goku.

"Oh, yeah I remember Gohan talking about that, he said that you were the only one who knew how to do it" said Videl.

"Yeah, I don't know why nobody else has asked me to teach them it" said Goku.

Just as Goku had finished speaking, Videl suddenly felt drawn towards the ground, as if she were carrying a bag, or maybe bags of rocks;

"What…what's going on?" asked Videl, as she struggled to stand properly.

"Oh, that's right, you're not used to this. It's the gravity, on King Kai's planet, the gravity is much stronger here than on Earth so it weighs you down" explained Goku.

"Wow, really, that's incredible, but, it really does make it hard to stand, let alone anything else" said Videl.

"I know, that's why it's such a great place to train" said Goku.

"Now, the first thing we'll do is get you to walk over to King Kai's house, it's just over there" said Goku.

The pair weren't more than maybe twenty yards from King Kai's home, but Videl struggled to stand, let alone take a step;

"This…this is, incredibly, difficult" said Videl, panting hard as she tried taking some steps towards King Kai's house.

"I know, but give it time, you'll get used to the gravity and when you get back to Earth, you'll notice the difference right away, I promise" said Goku.

* * *

Back at the lookout, Gohan's anger and sadness had filled the sky with wild outbursts of energy, as Dende and Mr Popo looked on in fright at the sheer power that Gohan was exhibiting at that moment. A few more moments went by and Gohan stopped screaming and yelling and fell to his knees, tears streaming down from his eyes;

"Videl…I…I'm so sorry. I should have protected you better, but I failed" said Gohan incoherently.

"I'm sorry Gohan, really, I am." said Dende.

"It's ok Dende *sniff*, you tried" replied Gohan.

"Mr Popo" said Dende.

"Yes Dende?" he replied.

"Would you go inside and find a cloth or, something, to cover her up" said Dende.

"Of course, I'll be right back" replied Mr Popo.

Mr Popo left and Gohan and Dende just remained there in silence, Dende not wanting to leave Gohan alone, and Gohan, unwilling to leave Videl's body.

"How Dende? How could I let this happen? I'm supposed to have reflexes that would stop bullets with ease, how did I miss like that?" asked Gohan.

"I don't know Gohan, I honestly don't know" replied Dende.

Gohan didn't say anything else for a while, just kneeling there, looking over Videl's body, trying to contemplate just exactly what had actually happened. Mr Popo came back at some point and placed a sheet over Videl's body and Dende just sat on the steps, making sure that Gohan was not left alone at a time like this.

Eventually, Krillin, 18 and Marron and Master Roshi arrived on the lookout. Krillin jumped out and ran over to where they were;

"Gohan, what's wrong bro, we could feel your energy miles awa…" said Krillin, before he realised that there was a body sitting in front of Gohan and Dende.

"Who's under the sheet?" Krillin asked, as 18 with Marron and Master Roshi arrived behind him.

Gohan didn't say a word or even move a muscle, he continued to kneel there and stared at the white sheet.

"Videl" said Dende.

"WHAT!" exclaimed the three adults.

"What happened?" asked Krillin.

"She was shot in the chest. Gohan brought her here and I tried what I could to help but, she was already gone by the time she got here" explained Dende.

"Oh no. Gohan, are you ok?" asked Krillin.

Gohan still just knelt there, with his head hung, staring at the sheet covered Videl.

Whilst Krillin was waiting for a response that he would never get, Vegeta and Trunks arrived to the lookout.

"What's going on? We could feel his energy miles away" said Vegeta.

"It's Videl, she was shot in the chest and…didn't make it" said Krillin as he turned towards Vegeta.

"Ugh, unbelievable" said Vegeta.

"Yeah, we don't know everything, Gohan's been lost for a while now" said Krillin.

"That explains why we could feel his energy so intensely, he cared for her greatly" said Vegeta.

Krillin just looked at Vegeta, nothing else needed to be said, it made sense to him, to them all.

Piccolo then arrived to see Vegeta, Trunks, Krillin, 18 (with Marron) and Master Roshi were already there;

"What's going on? What happened?" asked Piccolo.

"It's Gohan, he's…he's grieving" said Krillin, trying to find the right word to describe Gohan's state of mind at that moment.

"Grieving?" said a surprised Piccolo.

"Yeah, Videl got injured and…well…she's no longer with us" explained Krillin.

"What?" exclaimed Piccolo.

"Yeah, we don't know the full story yet, only that she was shot and Gohan brought her here to get Dende's help" said Krillin.

"Dende!" said Piccolo as he turned to face the younger Namekian.

"Yes Piccolo?" said Dende.

"How severe was it?" asked Piccolo.

"She…she was already gone by the time she arrived here, but I didn't know for how long so I tried anyway, but it was no use" said Dende.

"I see" said Piccolo.

Nobody wanted to leave Gohan at this point, so they all stood about, waiting for Gohan to react or say something.

"Should someone maybe tell Chichi what's going on" said Krillin to the group.

"No need, I already told Bulma to phone his mother to find out what's going on, no doubt they'll be on their way here" said Vegeta.

No sooner had he said that, than another jet-copter could be seen arriving to the lookout, carrying none other than Bulma, Chichi and Goten.

Chichi jumped out first and ran over to the group, followed soon after by Bulma and Goten.

"What happened? Is Gohan okay?" asked a worried Chichi.

"He's not hurt, if that's what you're asking but, I wouldn't say he's fine" said Krillin.

"What do you mean?" Chichi asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"It's…Videl. She got injured, badly and…well, take a look for yourself" said Krillin as he pointed over to Gohan.

Chichi rushed over to Gohan.

"Gohan, whatever is the matter my…darl…" Chichi said before she froze up, noticing a sheet on the ground and what looked like a body underneath it.

"Is…that…Videl?" asked Chichi.

Gohan reacted for the first time since they had all arrived by nodding his head.

"Gohan, my baby, what happened?" asked Chichi.

"Some men broke in to Videl's home and started robbing the place, taking what they could" said Gohan, behind the tears in his eyes.

"They were taking everything that the staff had as well, Videl stood up to them and took some of them out, despite the fact that they had guns, she was very brave in doing so" continued Gohan.

"There were still some of them out in the hall way. They began to fire and…I stood between her and the bullets and caught them all, before I took out the last of them. At least, I thought I had" said Gohan as he was choking up trying to explain what happened.

"Then I heard her, she called my name and…I…I turned around …and…there she was, slumping to the ground with a bullet wound. It's my fault mom, I was supposed to stop all of those bullets but I missed one, I MISSED ONE" said Gohan as he began to cry again.

"It's alright my son, it's ok" said Chichi as she pulled her eldest son close to her and embraced him in a tight hug.

"No, it's not mom, I should've been able to stop it happening but I didn't, it's my fault, it's just like dad all over again" said Gohan, unable to control his emotions.

"No, it's not Gohan, this is completely different, you weren't ignoring the situation, were you? You reacted to try and save someone's life and that's all anyone can ask of you" said Chichi sternly.

"Of *sniff*, of course not mom, but I could have prevented it and I didn't" said Gohan as he was still thinking how it was all his fault.

* * *

Videl had managed to make it to King Kai's house, albeit, she still struggled due to the increased gravity on the planet.

"Ok, I'm here, now what" asked Videl.

"Now," came a voice from inside the house, "now, we begin your proper training" said King Kai, as he emerged from the house.

"Ugh, who are you?" asked a startled Videl.

"I'm King Kai" he said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, pleased to meet you" said Videl, still straining as she was still trying to get used to the gravity.

"It's alright, now, before we get started, Goku, your friends have all gathered on the lookout" said King Kai.

"Great. Videl, come over here" said Goku, motioning for Videl to follow.

"We're going to talk to our friends on the lookout" he said.

"Talk to them? But how? We're dead, aren't we?" asked Videl.

"Yeah but King Kai is able to talk to people telepathically, and, since they've all gathered on the lookout, it makes it easier for us to talk to them as a group" explained Goku.

"Ok, so, how do we talk to them?" asked Videl.

"It's simple, place your hand on me and I'll act like a relay between you and your friends" explained King Kai.

"Ok" said a still puzzled Videl.

"Now, I'll talk first. You can just talk normally as if they were in front of you and when they talk back, you'll hear them, just like they were in front of you as well, got it?" asked Goku.

"Got it" replied Videl.

"Ready Goku?" asked King Kai.

"Ready" replied Goku.


	11. Chapter 11

The group were gathered on the lookout, looking around at each other, unsure of what to do next. They all wanted to be there for Gohan but, nobody knew what to say to him, nothing was going to make him feel better at this point, not after what had happened.

Krillin was about to suggest to 18 and Master Roshi that they head off as there really wasn't anything that they could do for Gohan at that moment.

Before Krillin could even take a step;

"Hey! Can you guys here me?" came a voice.

"Eh, did you guys all hear that" asked Krillin.

"Yeah, I heard it" said Bulma.

"Me too" said Goten.

"Goku!" said Piccolo.

"Kakarot?" exclaimed Vegeta.

"D-dad?" said Gohan.

"Goku?" said Chichi.

Everyone else just looked puzzled as Goku continued speaking;

"Great, you can hear me, sorry it's been a while since I last spoke to you all, but I think it's very important that I talk with you all now" said Goku.

"Thanks to King Kai, I've been aware of what's been going on recently" he continued.

"And there's somebody here that I think you should talk to Gohan" said Goku.

He then removed his hand from King Kai to speak to Videl privately for a moment;

"Remember, talk to Gohan as if he were in front of you, it'll just be like a normal conversation" explained Gohan.

Videl looked at Goku and nodded to acknowledge that she understood, then turned back to King Kai. Goku placed his hand back on King Kai as well.

"Gohan" Videl called out.

"Videl?" exclaimed Gohan.

"Gohan, you can hear me" said Videl.

"Yeah, I can hear you, where are you?" he asked.

"I'm in otherworld apparently. I met your dad, you know, Goten looks exactly like him" said Videl.

"Videl, I…I'm sorry" said Gohan.

"Why Gohan? You don't need to be sorry, you risked your life to save me and even rushed me to Dende for help, I couldn't ask for more" said Videl.

"But, Videl…I stopped every other bullet, except THAT one! How can you say I shouldn't be sorry?" said Gohan.

"It's the thought that counts Gohan. Besides, there's still something you can do for me" said Videl.

"What? Really? What is it?" asked Gohan.

"I'm surprised you haven't already thought about it yourself Gohan you book worm. It's just these little things called, oh I dunno, dragon balls!" said Videl.

"Ugh, of course! I'm an idiot, of course we can use the dragon balls" exclaimed Gohan in a bit of excitement.

"Right, now, while you do that, I'm gonna be doing some training with your dad" said Videl.

"What? Are you kidding me?" said Gohan.

"Nope, now, hop to it and don't keep me waiting" said Videl.

Videl then removed her hand from King Kai, Goku however, kept his hand on King Kai;

"Don't worry Gohan, she's safe here but there's something else you need to do. You need to make sure you keep Videl's body safe too, remember, if there's no body, you won't be able to wish her back" said Goku.

"Oh no, you're right, what can we do?" asked a concerned Gohan.

Videl looked at Goku with surprise as well, she wasn't aware that she couldn't be wished back to life if her physical body was gone.

"Ask Bulma, she once kept Master Roshi, Krillin and Chiaotzu in capsules so we could revive them later" said Goku.

"Oh yeah, I remember that, gosh that was a long time ago. I don't have any of those capsules on me, but let me check in the jet" said Bulma as she headed over to her jet-copter that she hadn't capsulized.

"Dad" said Gohan.

"Yeah son?" asked Goku.

"I'm glad I got to speak to you again, it's been a long time" said Gohan.

"It sure is son. Chichi, you know I still love you, right?" asked Goku.

"Of course Goku, and I still love you, I just wish you would have come back" said Chichi.

"I know Chichi and believe me, I wish I had come back, but it was always going to be safer this way" replied Goku.

"I wish you would come back too Kakarot, so I could prove to you that I am the strongest in the universe" butted in the Saiyan Prince.

"Hehe, yeah, I bet you do Vegeta, I won't lie, I've been itching to go a few rounds with you for years, what with all the training you've been putting in" said Goku.

"Anyway, you guys have to go collect some dragon balls, meanwhile, I'll train with Videl and show her what true fighting is all about, catch you all later" said Goku.

Everyone in the group each said their own goodbyes over the top of each other. Goku had removed his hand from King Kai and turned to Videl;

"Ok, while they go get the dragon balls to revive you, wanna get started on that training?" asked Goku.

"Sure" said Videl.

* * *

"Ok, where do we start?" asked Krillin.

"Well, I can go get the dragon radar from my lab" said Bulma, returning with a single capsule that would store Videl's body.

"And we've already got one at home" said Chichi.

"Great, Bulma I'll come with you to get the dragon radar, then I'll head home and start with the one we've got" said Gohan.

"It's alright Gohan, I'll go get the dragon balls for you, you stay here with Videl" said Piccolo.

"What? Are you sure Piccolo?" asked Gohan.

"Yeah, you take it easy Gohan, you've been through enough today" said Piccolo.

"Thanks" said Gohan.

"Well if you're going, then we're coming too" said Vegeta.

"Oh, and why's that" asked Piccolo.

"It's better than just sitting around doing nothing. C'mon boy" said Vegeta, addressing Trunks.

Trunks swiftly followed next to Vegeta as the three of them got in to the jet-copter. Bulma threw out the capsule which turned in to a stasis pod before she got in the jet-copter with them and they took off back to Capsule Corp.

Gohan lifted Videls body and place her gently in to the stasis pod and removed the sheet that was covering her, before closing the lid to the stasis pod.

"Don't worry Videl, I'll have you back in no time" said Gohan as he stood watching over the pod.

"Don't worry Gohan, we won't leave you until she's back with us" said Krillin.

"Thanks, Krillin" replied Gohan.

* * *

Only a few minutes had passed by but Videl was already excited at the prospect of doing some training, she wasn't sure how long Gohan was going to take to get the dragon balls and revive her, so she wanted to make the best use of her time.

She was still struggling to stand in the increased gravity but she was getting used to it and was moving around slightly better than before;

"Alright, I'm ready, what's the first lesson?" asked Videl.

"Your first task is … to make me laugh" smirked King Kai.

"Make you laugh? What kind of a silly lesson is that?" asked Videl.

"It's the kind of lesson that will allow you the privilege of training with me" said King Kai.

"Alright, so, what do I have to do to make you laugh?" asked Videl.

"Tell me a joke, silly" replied King Kai.

"Hmmm, ok, gimme a minute" said Videl.

Videl thought for a minute before coming up with something;

"Hear about the new restaurant called Karma? There's no menu, you get what you deserve" said Videl, hoping it would be enough to make King Kai laugh.

"Hehehe, that wasn't too bad, Goku here wasn't so quick on the uptake when he first trained here" said King Kai.

"Alright, I'll allow it, but you'll need to work on your jokes as well" he continued.

"Alright, awesome" said Videl.

"Ok, your next task is to catch Bubbles" said King Kai.

"Bubbles?" asked Videl with a puzzled look on her face.

"Yeah, Bubbles, the monkey over there" said King Kai as he pointed over to Bubbles.

Videl looked at the monkey and thought about it for a moment;

"Catch the monkey? I can barely walk here" said Videl.

"Well, once your body grows strong enough, you'll be able to chase bubbles around and one day, even catch him" said King Kai.

"That doesn't seem possible, not like this" said Videl.

"It's definitely possible, why Goku here holds the record for catching Bubbles, it only took him 0.8 seconds, however, Goku did spend a whole year training here as well so, take from that what you will" said King Kai.

"Don't worry Videl, you'll definitely grow stronger and the next time you fight, you'll definitely notice the difference" said Goku.

"Really?" said Videl.

"Sure, look at me, I could barely get off of the ground when I first got here, and now, it doesn't even feel like there's a difference between Earth's gravity and here" said Goku.

"Oh well, I guess I'd better get started" said Videl as she started making her way towards Bubbles.

* * *

Piccolo, Vegeta, Trunks and Bulma had all arrived back at Capsule Corp. Bulma had went in to her lab to find the dragon radar, it had been some time since it has last been used so she had to find where she had put it.

Meanwhile, Trunks grabbed a bag to hold them in once they started collecting them. It took Bulma about ten minutes to find the radar before they could get underway. Trunks was put in charge of the radar and the three of them set off.

The first dragon ball was easy to find as it was the four star ball at Gohan's, Goten's and Chichi's home. After that, they had to fly two hundred miles north where they found the seven star ball sitting on the ledge of a cliff face. They then flew three hundred and forty miles west to pick up the five star dragon ball, which just lay in a field of high grass, it took them a little bit to find this one as the radar couldn't pin point exactly where it was but it was within about ten feet of them when they started searching so it didn't take too long.

The trio then had to trek back south by approximately eleven hundred miles (or one thousand, one hundred miles). This one however, was a bit more problematic. This dragon ball was underwater. It wasn't too far off from the coastline but it was still relatively deep. Piccolo had elected to get this one, he removed his weighted clothing and dove under the water.

Piccolo swam to the ocean floor and looked around, there were a number of nooks and crannies that could have been hiding the dragon ball. He inspected each one, drawing a blank each time and going back up for air whenever he needed to. There were only a few places left but Piccolo couldn't see inside them all, he had to reach in with his hands to be able to fully explore each one.

Piccolo had put his hand in one but did not find anything, however, this particular miniature cave didn't seem to have an end, so Piccolo stuck his arm in further but still couldn't find anything. He then used the technique of extending his arms to try and fish around some more.

Unbeknownst to Piccolo, something was approaching him from behind, Piccolo wasn't very adept underwater as he would be above water so it was hard for him to notice if anything was happening. Suddenly, something sharp had grabbed a hold of Piccolo's arm, which turned out to be a shark that had dug its teeth in to Piccolo's arm. He yelled in pain and had to go up for more air.

When he emerged, he flew up in to the air to regain his composure when Vegeta and Trunks had spotted his missing arm;

"What the? What happened?" asked Vegeta.

"A damn shark decided it was meal time" said Piccolo.

"Haha oh that's too funny" said Vegeta.

Piccolo regrew his arm in no time at all and ignored Vegeta's comment;

"Excuse me, I need to go take care of something" said Piccolo as he dove underwater once again.

Piccolo searched for a moment until he found the shark, and it was heading straight for him. He swam at the shark head on, until the shark was within striking distance. The shark opened its mouth, looking to add the rest of Piccolo to its feast. Piccolo, however, wasn't having any of that, he instead, swam underneath the shark and punched it hard in the stomach area. The shark then coughed up what remained of Piccolo's arm and…a dragon ball.

The one star dragon ball was now in Piccolo's possession and with the shark now being dealt with, he swam back up to the surface and re-joined Vegeta and Trunks, dragon ball in hand.

"Got that out of your system?" said Vegeta with a smirk on his face.

"Let's just go" grunted Piccolo and the three of them were on their way once more.

The rest of their search was pretty uneventful. They found the three star dragon ball in a birds nest which wasn't being guarded so they didn't have to fight any mother birds trying to protect it. The six star dragon ball was at the base of a dormant volcano that didn't look like it was going to erupt any time soon and the two star ball was found on top of a skyscraper.

With all seven dragon balls in their possession, the trio made their way back to the lookout.

* * *

Whilst Vegeta, Piccolo and Trunks were on their way to find the dragon balls, Gohan sat on the steps of the lookout, keeping his eye on the stasis pod only a few feet away from him;

"How are you holding up Gohan?" asked Krillin.

"Better, now that we're getting the dragon balls to revive Videl" said Gohan.

"Krillin, can I ask you something?" asked Gohan.

"Sure, fire away" replied Krillin.

"Do you think that…I've gotten weaker…or…softer, in the last 7 years?" Gohan asked.

"Well, it's hard for me to tell Gohan, you'll always be stronger than me, but, if I had to base it on your fight with Vegeta, then yes, you've definitely gotten weaker in the last 7 years. However, that energy you released earlier, I've never felt anything like it. You've definitely still got the ability to push past that limit but, you just need to find it again" answered Krillin.

"Thank you Krillin, I'm glad I can count on you" said Gohan.

"Any time" said Krillin.

Chichi, Goten, 18 and Marron had all went inside the lookout itself in order to rest as the evening was drawing in and night was about begin.

"I'm gonna go check on my family, ok Gohan?" said Krillin.

"Sure, I'll be right here" replied Gohan.

* * *

Krillin made his way in to the building and found both Goten and Marron sleeping, whilst Chichi and 18 were having a conversation.

"Hey" said Krillin softly so as to not wake the children.

"Hey" said Chichi and 18.

"So, what do you both think about Gohan and Videl, I'm sure it's obvious to everyone just how much he cares for her, even if he can't see it himself" said Krillin.

"Well, except for the fact that her father is that imbecile Hercule, I think they're perfect for each other" said Chichi with love hearts in her eyes again.

"I'd say that Goku's son has found his Chichi" said 18.

"What do you mean by that" said Krillin.

"Well, Goku was attracted to Chichi because she's a strong independent woman, and that's exactly what Videl is to Gohan, she's a strong independent woman" said 18.

"Wow, I never even thought of it that way" said Krillin.

"Well, at least when Gohan gets married, I can trust that I'm leaving him in capable hands" said Chichi, with a big smile across her face.

* * *

Meanwhile, in otherworld, Videl had been struggling and training for a while now. She was finally able to stand up properly under the gravity, but she still couldn't move forward any quicker than before;

' _This is going to take a lot of work and effort'_ thought Videl.

"I hate to tell you this kiddo, but it looks like they've found all seven dragon balls already, which means you'll not have much time left to train here" said King Kai.

"What? Already? Man, that was fast" said Videl.

"Yeah, once you've got the dragon radar and can fly, it really doesn't take that long. I think the first time me and Bulma went to find them, it took us the best part of nearly a year to find them" said Goku.

"In a way, I really wouldn't have minded taking that long, it would have given me a chance to train here some more" said Videl.

"But then, on the other hand, I'd miss a whole year and then, when I suddenly reappear, people would start asking questions" she continued.

"Yeah, that's true, it's kinda one of the reasons we like to stay away from all the media and publicity, it draws too many questions and with the answers, a lot of people just wouldn't believe it" said Goku.

"That explains why Gohan was so intent in me keeping all of this a secret, I get it now" said Videl.

"Great, now, let's keep training" said Goku.

"You got it" said Videl.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

* * *

 **A/N: So, just to let you know, the next chapter is the last in this story and there is an epilogue as well, however both I felt were too short to put out at individual parts so they've been stuck together in the same one.**

 **If you've thought that the middle section of this story was a bit too rushed and far fetched, then I'm afraid you might find the ending a bit of the same, so apologies for that.**

 **Based on the reviews I've had, I'll admit, I've straight up forgotten some parts of the history of dragon ball, others I've not been wrong in, I may just not have explained very well, however, I don't see a point to re-telling the story of dragon ball or dragon ball z, if you want that story, just go watch the episodes or read the manga. With that said, I've still taken the points of the criticism and will try to make sure that I hit the nail on the head in my next story (which I'm currently in the middle of writing just now).**

 **All I can hope for is that you've liked the story enough so far (and to the end) that you'll be interested in reading my next one.**

 **Also, don't expect me to edit anything in the story, the way I write is that I write the whole story first, have someone else review it, then post it in chapters. I don't believe in starting a story and then not finishing it, that just infuriates me.**


	12. Chapter 12

Piccolo, Vegeta and Trunks approached the lookout, with all the dragon balls in the bag that Trunks had brought. Bulma had already returned to the lookout and was with Chichi and 18 and Krillin. Krillin could sense the energy coming from the returning trio;

"They're back, c'mon" said Krillin.

Gohan too, had sensed them and looked in the direction that they were coming from. He couldn't see them quite yet but it wouldn't be long before they were back. In the meantime, Gohan wanted to let Videl know that it would soon be time to revive her, except, he didn't know how to contact them, he didn't have the powers that King Kai had.

The small group who had been inside had returned to join Gohan with Dende and Mr Popo not far behind when they had seen the group moving outside;

"Dende, how do we get in contact with King Kai to let them know that we're nearly ready" asked Gohan.

"Oh, that's easy Gohan, I'll demonstrate" said Krillin.

"Hey, King Kai, can you hear us" shouted Krillin in to the air.

"Krillin? Yeah, I can hear you, what's up?" asked King Kai.

"We just wanted to let Videl know that we're nearly ready down here, Piccolo, Vegeta and Trunks will be here shortly with the dragon balls" said Krillin.

"Ok, I'll let her know, just give me a shout when you're about to do it" replied King Kai.

"See Gohan, it's as easy as that" said Krillin.

"Wow, if I'd have known that I'd probably have been talking to dad long ago" said Gohan.

"I'd be careful if I were you, King Kai can be a grouch sometimes if you use him like a telephone" said Krillin.

"I'll keep that in mind" laughed Gohan.

* * *

"I was just speaking to your friends on Earth, they've collected all the dragon balls and are nearly ready to bring you back to life" King Kai said to Videl.

"That's wonderful, I really wish I could stay and train more, but I guess I just don't have the time" said Videl.

"There is still something you can do" said Goku.

"Hmm, what's that?" asked Videl.

"Train with them all" said Goku.

"Train with them all? I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you mean" said Videl.

"Well, instead of training on your own or even just with Gohan, train with each fighter, so, for example, if you just want a bit of fun, practice with Trunks or Goten, if you want a proper workout, try training with Gohan or Krillin, heck, even Chichi, she used to be a martial artist you know" said Goku.

"Oh, I get it now, ok, but, what about Vegeta and Piccolo?" asked Videl.

"Well, I'd say you should only train with them once you've built yourself up on a hard training schedule, neither of them will be easy on you, especially Piccolo, he'll push you to your absolute limit to get the best from you" said Goku.

"And what about Vegeta?" asked Videl.

"Well, if he doesn't find you worthy of his time, he'll either just ignore you or tell you to get lost, which, come to think of it, is what he tells me all the time, hehe" said Goku grinning at that last comment.

"I guess I'll steer clear of them for a while then" said Videl.

"I would, at least for a while" said Goku.

Just then, King Kai butted back in;

"Alright, they've just summoned Shenron, ready to go back?" asked King Kai.

"I'm ready. It was nice to meet you Goku, maybe one day I'll get to meet you on Earth too" said Videl.

"Yeah, I'd like that" said Goku.

"Thanks again King Kai, I'll be sure to visit you some time in the future" said Videl.

"No problem, I'll be here" said King Kai.

* * *

Vegeta, Piccolo and Trunks had arrived with all of the dragon balls and gave the bag with them over to Bulma as she always seemed to be happy enough to call forth Shenron;

"Ok, are you ready Gohan?" asked Bulma.

"Just one second" said Gohan.

"King Kai, we're ready down here" shouted Gohan in to thin air.

"Ok, I'll tell her" said King Kai.

"Ok Bulma, let's do this" said Gohan. Bulma then began the ritual;

"I SUMMON FORTH, THE ETERNAL DRAGON, SHENRON!" said Bulma.

The seven dragon balls all began to glow, dark clouds then began to fill the sky, blotting out any semblance of light, thunder could be heard and lightning could be seen all across the dark sky.

From the lightning, came a green dragon with bright red eyes, the rest of its body being formed by the bolts of lightning in the sky. After only a few moments, the entire dragon was in the air, floating there, staring at them with intense eyes;

"I AM THE ETERNAL DRAGON, SHENRON, I WILL GRANT YOU ANY TWO WISHES!" said Shenron, in his booming voice.

"We wish to revive the girl known as Videl" said Bulma.

Shenron's eyes began to glow and then faded again after only a second or two;

"IT IS DONE, NOW, SPEAK YOUR SECOND WISH!" said Shenron.

Gohan, along with everyone else, ignored the words of the giant beast, as they all turned around to look at Videl in the stasis pod. She was still for a moment and then, her body jerked up slightly and she took in a large gulp of air. Gohan opened the pod and Videl sat up, checking herself, her hands, fingers, arms, face, making sure that everything was in once piece. She then turned to Gohan;

"Gohan!" she said, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Videl!" said Gohan, happy to see his friend again, the hurt in his eyes, now turned to joy.

Videl jumped up out of the pod and threw her arms around Gohan's neck and hugged him tight;

"Oh Gohan, I can't believe you went to all this trouble, just to bring me back" said Videl.

"Of course, I…I care about you Videl" said Gohan.

Videl released her clutch on his neck and swayed back a bit to look at him;

"You…care about me?" said Videl, a smile forming on her face.

Just then, a voice interrupted them;

"I MUST HAVE YOUR SECOND WISH!" came the booming voice. Everyone turned back to face Shenron, all except Gohan and Videl. Videl was so overcome with joy and happiness, despite what happened at her home, she placed her trust in Gohan and, she cared about him too, more so than she ever thought she could care for another person, all of the emotions running through her mind, and her heart.

Videl then stood on her tip toes (as Gohan was a fair bit taller), grabbed the back of Gohan's head with her left hand and slid her right hand down to his shoulder, she pulled his head towards hers and placed her lips on his and began to kiss Gohan. This not only was how Videl felt about Gohan, but it was also her first kiss. For Videl, it was magical, her lips touching Gohan's, his strong hands holding her, his embrace made her feel safe and warm.

She pried her lips away from his and looked in to Gohan's eyes. Gohan, had the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face, and some red on his face from blushing, although, Videl too, was blushing slightly as well, but the smile on her face, was just as big as Gohan's. The two teenagers looked around at everyone else, who were still looking at Shenron;

"SPEAK YOUR SECOND WISH, OR FORFEIT IT!" came the beast's almighty voice.

"I don't know what else we could wish for, I mean, we got Videl back, what else is there?" said Krillin.

Everyone looked around at each other, and just as they were about to give up, an unusual voice made the request that everyone had wanted for years but would never make;

"I wish that you would bring back that fool, Kakarot" came Vegeta's voice.

Everyone was stunned, Vegeta had seven years to ask that question and never once tried to do so, why now?

"Vegeta? Why would you of all people wish Goku back?" asked Piccolo.

"Well, you know, happy families and all that stuff, besides, this will give me a chance to prove to Kakarot that I am the strongest in the universe" said Vegeta.

"And there it is, it wasn't because you were being nice, it's because you were being selfish" said Bulma.

"Tsk" was Vegeta's response.

* * *

Suddenly, the dragon disappeared, as quickly as it came, the seven dragon balls shot up in to the air and all took off in different directions.

"Oh well, guess we'll have to go looking for the four star ball again, won't we" said Goku.

Everyone was stunned, they all turned around to the steps, just behind where Gohan and Videl were hugging each other;

"Hey guys!" said Goku.

"Dad!" said Gohan and ran to hug him, being the closest. Soon, Goten was clambering to get a hug too as was Chichi. Everyone else cheered at Goku's return;

"I missed you guys, all of you. I promise, I'm not going to leave you again" Goku said to everyone.

"That's great, now I will show you who the strongest is, Kakarot" spouted Vegeta.

"Relax Vegeta, you'll get your chance, right now, I've got a lot of catching up to do" said Goku.

"Fine, but just so you know, I've been training the last 7 years and I will far exceed your power" said Vegeta.

"That's great Vegeta, I wouldn't expect any less of you" said Goku.

"Now, what do you say we all go home" said Goku.

"Sounds like a good idea" said Chichi.

"I'll take Videl home first and we'll sort out any problems from earlier and then I'll be home, ok mom?" said Gohan.

"Ok Gohan, just be careful and don't be too late" said Chichi.

"Right mom" replied Gohan.

The rest of their friends set back off for their homes. Krillin (with 18 and Marron) took Master Roshi home, Bulma, Trunks and Vegeta left for Capsule Corp and Goku took Chichi and Goten home via Instant Transmission. Dende and Mr Popo went back inside and Gohan had called Nimbus to take him and Videl back to her home to drop her off. Before they could leave, someone called out to them;

"Hold on" said Piccolo.

"What is it Piccolo?" asked Gohan.

"I think we need to clear one thing up before you go" said Piccolo.

He held his hand out above Videl. Suddenly, something started to change, as if by magic, Videl's dress, with the blood on it and the hole in it, had been repaired, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Thank you, Piccolo" said Videl.

"My pleasure, make sure Gohan gets home safe, ok" said Piccolo, jokingly.

"Will do" replied Videl with a cheeky grin and a wink.

"Hey, what do you mean, get me home safe, Piccolo?" said Gohan embarrassingly.

Piccolo smiled and turned back towards the building where Dende and Mr Popo had gone. The two teenagers took off towards Videls home. After approximately half an hour, they were back at Videl's home, where the local police had already been and taped off some areas of the house. Gohan landed nimbus nearby, but off the property.

"C'mon, I'll walk you to your door, I want to make sure you're safe" said Gohan, as he started off in the direction of her house. Videl grabbed his hand and pulled him back towards her. She kissed Gohan again as she was just so elated at the length and effort that Gohan would go to for her. She then took his hand and they walked, hand in hand, back to her house.

Videl then spent a while explaining to the police just exactly what happened. She left out the part about her dying and what else transpired after that of course, she made something up to explain what happened and how she managed to get away with the help of Gohan. The police bought the excuse, seeing as Videl was essentially one of them, they had no reason to doubt her.

Once the police had gone and everyone had been cleared up and settled, Gohan decided it was time to leave;

"Okay Videl, I guess I'd better go now" said Gohan.

"Wait! Gohan, you've got something on your face" said Videl.

"Huh? What is it?" asked Gohan.

Videl then kissed Gohan one last time, this time, it was only a small, quick kiss on the lips;

"Me" said Videl.

Gohan's face lit up as he held Videl's hand for a moment and then let it slip out of his, as he turned and walked away to get nimbus and head home.

Videl closed the door and turned around and leaned against it, placing her hand on her chest and exhaling, her heart, now aflutter and butterflies in her stomach. She was very much certain that Gohan was now hers and that she wanted to be with Gohan a lot more from now on.

Gohan had climbed back on to nimbus and set off for home. He was some way home and decided to reflect on the night's events. He had wished he could have saved Videl in the first place and none of this would have happened. He hated to admit it, but Vegeta was right, he never knew when he might need to protect the ones he loved most. He decided that from now on, he was going to put some more emphasis on his training once again.

The biggest highlight of his night of course, was when he and Videl kissed. The first time they kissed was very special to him as it was, like Videl's, his first kiss, and he couldn't have asked for someone better to experience it with. Knowing that Videl liked him, gave Gohan some relief, after everything she had been through over the last two days, she was still willing to be near him and in fact, wanted to be near him, she was special and all he wanted to do now, was spend every minute with her, know her more, just, be her whole world.

But that would have to wait, for tomorrow, always brings a new adventure…

* * *

 **Epilogue**

Three months had passed since the terrible night that Videl had been shot and died. Gohan and Videl were now dating, but, unlike a lot of couples, their dates were slightly different. Sure, they would go out to the movies or shopping or just hang out and watch tv or movies but, most of the time, they spent training.

On this particular day, all of their friends had gathered and were having a big winter feast. Once again, this was being held at the son residence, in the secluded 439 mountain area.

And of course, sparring was the top order of the day;

"C'mon Videl, you can do it" said Gohan.

Everyone was taking their turn to spar with someone today. Surprisingly, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu had all turned up as well. For the first time in years, Yamcha was getting in on the act;

"C'mon Yamcha, you can't get beat by a girl now" shouted Tien.

Videl took exception to that and threw a flurry of blows at Yamcha who was narrowly avoiding them, he wasn't expecting another human, who wasn't part of the immediate group he knew, to be throwing punches that fast;

"Whoa, what the heck, who's been training you?" asked Yamcha as shots were starting to connect.

"That would be me" said Krillin as he laughed at Yamcha trying to avoid getting hit.

"Not to mention, Gohan, Piccolo and Goku" Krillin continued.

"What? You mean, you've been getting training from all of them? No wonder you're so good!" exclaimed Yamcha, as Videl continued with a smiling grin on her face.

Eventually, Videl would go on to win against Yamcha, proving that she had learned a great deal in her training. After all, whilst Yamcha was rusty, he never forgot his martial arts training and was still better than any other human (present company excluded).

Krillin and Tien also duked it out to a draw when neither opponent could gain the upper hand and it came down to who had more stamina, which it turned out, neither had an advantage on that either.

Gohan and Piccolo also had a go. Gohan had been training with Goku, as well as Vegeta and Piccolo. It had been a close match but Gohan was still lacking experience and on one too many occasions let his guard down enough for Piccolo to win the match.

Trunks and Goten then had their go, which turned out to be one of the better bouts all day as the kids were more evenly matched than all the adults were. Ultimately, Trunks' age is what gave him the advantage to win over Goten, but everyone cheered for them both as it was, by far, the best of the day.

This only left one pairing: Goku and Vegeta.

This was Vegeta's moment, he had been savouring this for years and now, he finally would get his moment;

"I hope you've prepared for this Kakarot, I'm not going to go easy on you" said Vegeta.

"I should hope not, but don't forget Vegeta, you're not the only one who's been training all these years Vegeta" said Goku.

Both Saiyans flew up in to the air. Vegeta wasted no time at all and went straight in to super Saiyan two. Goku obliged and did the same. The fight started and it seemed like there was no clear advantage to anyone, sometimes Vegeta would get the upper hand and sometimes Goku would.

After about 15 minutes, they were no closer to a finish and were at a virtual stalemate;

"Damn you Kakarot, you really have been training" said Vegeta.

"Hehe, told you" said Goku.

"Alright then, let's see how you handle this" said Vegeta before he began to power up.

"FINAL!"

"What? Hey, no fair! You didn't say anything about energy blasts" said Goku, before he too, began to do the same;

"KA-ME-HA-ME…!"

"FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"


End file.
